Class of 2011 breaks record for college scholarships | News

Since the state of South Carolina began tracking college scholarships nine years ago, the Class of 2011 has become the first group to earn more than $960 million, according to the South Carolina Department of Education.

This year’s senior class total of $966,057,366 pushed South Carolina’s five-year scholarship total to more than $4.2 billion.

The scholarship totals came from an annual survey of South Carolina school districts, as well as public charter schools, the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics in Hartsville and the Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities in Greenville. 

The State Department of Education estimated that 90 percent of the state’s scholarships are academic and 10 percent are athletic, although sports scholarships also have academic requirements.

LIFE, HOPE and Palmetto Fellows scholarships represent about a fifth of the state’s total.

The numbers represent two-year scholarship values for technical colleges and two-year schools, and four-year totals for four-year colleges and universities.

The previous five years’ scholarship totals were $614 million (2006),$684 million (2007), $767 million (2008), $869 million (2009) and $917 million (2010).

Click here to view scholarship amounts by district