Syracuse City Council Meeting on Say Yes Scholarship Annual Report – April 30, 2026
Syracuse City Council Meeting on Say Yes Scholarship Annual Report – April 30, 2026
This meeting featured a presentation from the Say Yes to Education program on its annual report card, impact analysis, and the Syracuse College Attainment Network (SCAN). Council members engaged in detailed Q&A on scholarship eligibility, communication strategies, graduation rates, and the program's financial return on investment.
Discussion Items
- Annual Report Card: The presenter reported that over $1 million was awarded last fiscal year, including Choice Grants (private colleges), Opportunity Grants (public colleges, with an additional $3,000 for room and board), and Tuition Grants (just under $500,000). External scholarships and grant aid leveraged $15.6 million.
- Communication Strategy: The presenter noted a shift to reaching parents and influencers, as direct social media outreach to high schoolers via Facebook and Instagram was ineffective. They also plan to leverage Say Yes alumni for peer-to-peer communication and are participating in district orientation events.
- Eligibility and Residency: A council member asked about STEAM school students. The presenter confirmed that students must be city residents for three continuous years to qualify, but exceptions can be made through an appeal process. The residency requirement was deliberately kept to encourage families to move into the city.
- **Financial Aid: ** The presenter explained that Say Yes uses a last-dollar model for tuition at partner institutions (over 60 private colleges guarantee tuition). Loans are not considered. They also highlighted that 98% of Say Yes students completed FAFSA, but TAP completion remains a gap. The maximum Pell Grant is $7,935 per year, sufficient to cover SUNY tuition ($7,070).
- Graduation and Persistence Rates: Data showed 40% of the Class of 2025 completed a Say Yes application, but among those who matriculated to college, 88.1% completed the application. First-year to second-year persistence for Say Yes students is slightly below the national average (data for 2024-25 not yet available). A council member noted disparities: Asian Pacific Islander graduation rate 79%, Black 72%, White 71%, Indigenous 58% (though small sample size).
- Return on Community Investment: A study by Cornell Data Strategy found a 16% return on community investment for four-year degree holders compared to the median income in Syracuse. Alumni are employed in sectors such as healthcare, education, engineering, and more.
- Syracuse College Attainment Network (SCAN): The presenter described a collaborative effort among seven to eight agencies to align resources. In year two, 20 Syracuse City School District students received the Equitable Excellence Scholarship ($5,000/year). Students in both SCAN programs and Say Yes persist at nearly 100% and graduate at ~70%. SCAN members also get a $500 book voucher.
- Gap and Leave Policies: The presenter explained that students can take a gap year or up to two semesters off without losing eligibility; longer absences require an appeal.
Key Outcomes
- The residency requirement for Say Yes eligibility will remain in place; a countywide expansion would require nearly $1 billion endowment.
- The city council took no formal votes but acknowledged the program's value and requested continued outreach efforts, especially to students of color and those new to the district.
- The SCAN network will continue to expand its efforts, with plans to host more alumni events and federal advocacy trips.
- Say Yes will work with the district to include scholarship information in freshman orientation materials and increase presence at school-based events.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. Maybe we're here to talk about say yes. Go right ahead, please. Thank you. Thank you for uh your time. Appreciate being here. Um so uh each of you have a packet. Um it's uh our our report card, our annual report card every year we re uh report on how well the scholarships performed. Um I also included a few additional um items in your packet. That is our uh we commissioned um a student agency at Cornell University called uh Cornell Data Strategy to do a rate of return for us. Um and then there's also a packet uh last year, the past two years I've talked about um a network called the Syracuse College Attainment Network that we um have been working with other agencies to develop, and so there's a packet on that too. So I'll start with the report card. Um it's uh pretty much self-explanatory, but um in total uh last year we awarded over a million dollars. Uh you'll see that on the left-hand side, we have the choice grants that go to students that attend private colleges. Uh we have the opportunity grants that go to students that attend public colleges and have enough federal and state aid to cover tuition. So their Pell Grant and their TAP grant combined covers tuition at a at a SUNY school. And in those cases, they get an additional three thousand dollars from say yes to help cover with room and board or fees or anything like that. And that also extends to students that decide to get an apartment and in room together together to bring the cost down. All they have to do for us is provide proof of a lease. Um and then we have the tuition grants um that's uh just under $500,000. And then you'll see there under uh external scholarships and grant aid, um, we were able to leverage $15.6 million dollars, and that includes institutional aid uh from private colleges and the arrangement that we have with them in our agreements, and also um uh additional aid that we do not count towards the cost of attendance, so that would be like supplemental educational opportunity grant, uh SUNY tuition credits, um other merit scholarships, outside scholarships, and things of that nature. Um so speaking of external scholarships, yes. Um we we spoke earlier about SUNY system being all of it being free. Yep. Uh Syracuse University has a private college having an agreement with you guys. And it's also is it a hundred percent? That's right. Uh the the tuition is guaranteed using the last dollar model. So students do have to complete a FASF application, they do have to complete TAP. If they're getting grants uh from the state of the feds, those get applied in a Syracuse University covers the rest of tuition. What about the loan? What about the loan part? Loans are not included in the calculation. So with that with that with uh uh partners like Syracuse University. What are other uh what is what's the list of private schools that are 100% committed? Do you have that list at all? Uh I don't have the list on me, but there are um uh mo more than 60 of them nationwide that we have this agreement with. Um what I will temper that with is that tuition does not include the whole kit and caboodle. It's not the cost of attendance. So sometimes we do a lot of education with students and families on the tuition is covered, but if you want to live on campus and eat campus food and utilize campus equipment and everything, that's not part of it part of the factory makes sense. Um you cover the student for the four years of their bachelor's. Yes. At the same rate every year. Yes. Well, well, well, it was on year one would carry on. Yeah, I mean if if it so we guarantee the tuition, uh, I wouldn't necessarily say the same rate because colleges uh get more expensive over time. But we we make sure the tuition is covered for them. Um when you say that it's not full tuition, it's whatever they don't get from their tuition is uh tuition is guaranteed, but it's it's the balance on tuition after they if they're eligible for federal aid and state. Yes, yes. Almost every other avenue.
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