University of Rochester has partnered with Raise.me in providing micro scholarships to college students from less resourced communities. All incoming college students have the opportunity to receive this scholarship, which is based on school and personal achievements.
Paula Guerra, an incoming Biochemistry major, has a terrifying experience applying to colleges because of high tuition fees. However, she was able to get a great help from Raise.me. She is currently receiving $3,900 as an annual support for her tuition fee through the website. She has organized walkathon raise, took some advanced placement course and tutored young students to further lower her tuition fee.
Nate Leopold, who plans to major in International Relations, was excited to pay a lower tuition fee because of Raise.me. He has participated in elite soccer programs, received good grades and worked with community service organization as a requirement for the scholarship.
The dean of the college admission, Jonathan Burdick, participated immediately after meeting with Raise.me's founders two years ago. He said that the website's platform rewards students who already made their best and that the college cost is set to come because of their previous academic achievements.
Raise.me is based in San Francisco and is partly funded by Facebook and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It charges participating colleges an annual fee to maintain the program, Domain.me reported. According to reports, there about 320,000 high school students that have signed up on the website and 30,000 students follow Rochester from 1,400 two years ago.
All deserving students can register in Raise.me. They are required to add all their achievements, input their grades and activities since freshman year. Scholarship from the website is received upon enrolling in a participating university. All record input on the website must be true, otherwise, the scholarship will be forfeited, University of Rochester official website reported.
Raise.me has recently gathered more than 150 college partners and the University of Rochester was one of the ten "Innovation Partners." Scott Clyde, executive director of College enrollment said that the website has grown immensely since it was founded.
