Scottsdale Community College
Scottsdale has a lot of incredible young talent, and it’s cultivated by a school system that is amongst the best in the state. But for so many kids who grow up in our city, they go away to college and carve their own path elsewhere afterward, taking their talents to new cities and states instead of reinserting their talents back into the city that began them.
Thankfully the city is attempting to reverse this trend and combat a different ever-increasing problem with a new initiative. Scottsdale recently announced that it is starting a scholarship program, Scottsdale College Promise. This initiative is a needs-based program that will provide financial assistance to eligible Scottsdale residents and graduates of Scottsdale high schools, and it will assist them if they choose to pursue attendance at community colleges within the Maricopa Community College system.
In doing so, this alleviates another pressing issue: the price of colleges and universities. While the price of everything has gone up in the last few years, the upward march of tuition prices has been non-stop for decades now and places incredible stress on parents who want to provide for their children. As the relative value compared to post-collegiate income, the time has come for trade schools and community college to have their time in the sun, so this program comes at a perfect time.
This project was approved by the Scottsdale City Council during this year’s budget process, the program and has been allocated $500,000 in seed funding with an initial commitment of up to $100,000 for the first year, with statements of support by nearly all city councilmembers and generally strong support from both council and Scottsdale Unified Superintendent Dr. Scott Menzel.
And there’s little reason why this shouldn’t get strong support from council and the community. But dollar amount will not make a significant impact on the budget but will cause significant positive impacts on the lives of those Scottsdalians. But more than that, it sends a positive signal of investing in your own community and of investing in talent. It shows these talented young people that this city is worth your time and personal investment, and that it cares about cultivating its own talent and keeping it in the city.
Too many areas have an intelligent and motivated potential base of talent, only to see them take those talents elsewhere because of a lack of investment or a lack of opportunities. Scottsdale has the opportunities, and now it is making the investment. This is a development that we should all be proud of.