NIAGARA FALLS, NY (WKW) — Say Yes Buffalo has been a game-changer for thousands of Buffalo Public School students who were given tuition scholarships to attend college and now this program might be extended into the City of Niagara Falls.
Talks between Say Yes and the Niagara Falls City School District are in the early stages, but the school board has agreed to explore this "tuition-free" option for its students.
7 News Senior Reporter Eileen Buckley met with a Niagara Falls City High School student who says this would be incredible for students.
“It will have like a huge impact on people here. I think it would like open more doors if Say Yes did come here,” replied Madison Simpson.
Simpson is a senior. She’s in the midst of applying to colleges and wants to dual major in math and physics but needs scholarships to make that happen.
“The most I can realistically pay out of pocket is for like a community college and probably not even all of that,” reflected Simpson. “The tuition has like skyrocketed over the years. I was just recently looking at statistics about it and it's getting really hard to pay for it.”
Simpson tells me if Say Yes would come to Niagara Falls, so many city students, would benefit.
“A lot of people are scared of the money aspect, especially since like, the income hasn't increased much over the years and you know, you'd have to it's a lot to worry about. So, if it becomes more accessible, then you have more people going to college, which in turn like makes the community better,” remarked Simpson.
“If we have the ability to provide the same support to students in the Niagara Falls City Schools that we do in Buffalo, we're going to be much better off as a region,” responded David Rust, CEO, Say Yes Buffalo.
Rust telling me discussions are underway with the Niagara Falls City School District and they're stepping up their exploration efforts.
“We are running the data right now on what an endowed scholarship for Niagara Falls students would look like. We expect to have that back within a month or two,” Rust noted.
Rust says it won't be easy to raise the money to support the scholarships, but right now, the goal is to potentially launch Say services in the fall of 2025 followed by fundraising.
“And we've really identified the Community Schools work, the apprenticeship work, the scholarship, and mentoring for Young Men of Color, as the four portfolio items that Niagara Falls City Schools is interested in,” Rust commented.
Say Yes Buffalo, launched 12 years ago, has a proven track record of helping students.
“More than 10,000 students have been supported with the tuition scholarship to a SUNY or CUNY school or 100 private colleges around the country,” said Rust.
Unfortunately, Madison will already be enrolled in college if Say Yes comes to her city, but she issued this plea for community leaders
“The way people talk about college sometimes, especially with the money aspect, they're not really motivated to go to college. I think if the money aspect wasn't as like big as it was, I think we can get more kids to go to college,” Simpson stated.
