About 600 low-income high school students in Lincoln just got an incentive to think beyond graduation: a year’s paid tuition at Southeast Community College.

That sounds great to Alex Collier, a Lincoln High senior who wants to go to SCC but can’t do it without some financial aid.

Nobody from his family has been to college, he said, because they can’t afford it.

And a scholarship would help.

“I mean, who wouldn’t take advantage of that?”

That’s the response partners in the Learn to Dream Scholarship program are hoping to get with Wednesday’s announcement of what they describe as an innovative program to encourage all students to continue their education past high school.  

The program — a partnership between SCC, Union Bank and Nelnet — will be offered to all of Lincoln’s public and private high school seniors whose family incomes qualify them for the federal free and reduced lunch program.

Students do not have to participate in the lunch program to take advantage of the scholarships.

“This is truly a historic moment for our community and for so many of our families,” Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Susan Gourley said at a news conference announcing the program.

SCC President Jack Huck said the goal is to strengthen families — and the economy.

“The future of Lincoln, our state and our nation are inextricably tied to our ability to move all of our young people into the future workforce at the appropriate levels of education and training,” he said. “That’s what this program does.”

The program will be offered to this year’s seniors beginning Jan. 1.

Huck estimated about 600 seniors will be eligible, but officials are unsure how many students will take advantage of it.

Steve Vasa, a Lincoln High counselor, thinks it could be a motivating force for students who otherwise might not consider continuing their education.

Money concerns weigh heavily on many students.

“This will definitely relieve some of that apprehension,” he said. “I think that’s such an issue for so many of them.”

The scholarship will pay for 45 credit hours and fees, the equivalent of one year of full-time school. Students can use the scholarship within 24 months, said Ben Kiser, Nelnet spokesman.

At $46 per credit hour, that amounts to $2,070. The scholarship will not include other costs like housing or books. It also will not affect students’ ability to apply for other financial aid or scholarships.

Huck estimated the program will cost about $3 million over five years.

It will continue indefinitely, but officials will track students who participate to evaluate the success of the program, Huck said.

Increased student learning and graduation rates are a priority for LPS, Gourley said. This will help on both scores.

“The Learn to Dream Scholarships will encourage students to stay in school and have dreams for a future that in fact can become their reality,” Gourley said.

School officials will work with students to make sure they know about the program.

Eligible juniors and seniors can also use the scholarship money to take dual-credit courses at SCC, Huck said.

Vasa, who counsels Lincoln High students each year about financial aid, said a program like this could make a difference to students on many levels.

Some students go to SCC to see whether college will work for them, he said.

And some who start out in the academic transfer program may decide college isn’t for them, but they’re exposed to other two-year degrees they wouldn’t have known about.

“It opens them up to more options,” he said.

Many other students do transfer credits from SCC to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Huck said.

There are similar programs around the country, Huck said, but none he’s seen of this scope.

In Omaha, a coalition of the city’s wealthiest citizens this June announced a sweeping initiative that would pay for college tuition for low-income high school graduates in Douglas and Sarpy counties. The Building Bright Futures program would try to help students from kindergarten on, and pay for college and associated costs. It’s still unclear who would be selected as part of the Omaha initiative.

Union Bank President Angie Muhleisen said her father thought of the idea, which has been in the works for about a year.

“Our entire motivation behind doing this is to give every child in Lincoln the opportunity to have an education,” she said.

Nelnet’s Kiser said the student loan program’s troubles in recent years — which resulted in settlements with the New York and Nebraska attorney generals this year — have nothing to do with this program.

As part of the settlement, Nelnet agreed to pay $1 million to student loan assistance programs in Nebraska and $2 million to a national fund for educating high school seniors and parents about the financial aid process.

The settlement stemmed from an investigation of what the New York attorney general called questionable “preferred lender” practices.

None of that matters to Lincoln High’s Collier, who said if he wants to go to college — and he does — he needs some financial help.

“(Without it) it would be real hard for me,” he said.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.