High school seniors, high school diploma/equivalency and GED graduates can apply by Monday, August 15, 2022, for up to two years of free tuition and health fees toward San Diego City, Mesa, or Miramar colleges through the San Diego Promise. Launched by the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), the San Diego Promise is also open to veterans of the US armed forces, foster youth, justice-impacted, and undocumented students.
Students, parents, community members and leaders interested in the free-tuition program, the San Diego Promise, are encouraged to attend the virtual information night at 6 p.m. on July 5, 2022, or at 6 p.m. on August 2, 2022. Sessions are offered in English and Spanish. Register.
For the first time since the scholarship program’s inception in 2016, California’s state budget will include funding to enroll any student who goes to a SDCCD college full-time (and who does not already have a college degree). Historically the San Diego Promise was limited to first-time full-time college students.
Through private funding, the SDCCD provides pathways for special populations, foster youth, Veterans of U.S. Armed Forces, formerly incarcerated, undocumented students, and adult learners transitioning to college from the San Diego College of Continuing Education.
“Community is so important. Students not only plug into the promise program but into the campus community as a whole,” said Luke Menchaca, SDCCD’s Acting Dean of Outreach and Student Affairs. “Everyone is working together to meet the needs of the student, from administration, classified professionals, supervisory professionals, faculty, to peer mentors, the goal is to support them to graduate, transfer to a university, and obtain the career they want.”
Menchaca adds wrap-around services such as direct student aid for students to afford emergency rent, food, transportation, internet, and access to technology has been a huge relief during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be offered in the fall, as funds are available.
The SDCCD has already received 2,764 applications for the San Diego Promise, a 13.1% increase from last summer. Visit the San Diego Promise web page to learn more and register here for an information session.
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