This month we celebrate 18-year-old ACE scholar Jair O. who recently graduated with honors from Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, Colorado.
There’s a crisis in American education. Too many kids from low-income families are falling between the cracks simply because they’re stuck in failing schools and can’t afford any other options. It’s happening right here in Wyoming where only 71.9% of students from low-income families graduate from high school. ACE Scholarships was founded in 2000 to provide these low-income parents with school choice for their families through partial scholarships to K-12 private schools. ACE serves children whose families qualify for the federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program and the average income for our ACE families is $56,595 a year. So far in Wyoming, we’ve awarded over 900 scholarships with a cumulative worth of over $2M, helping to send kids from low-income families to the schools of their choice. And the results are amazing with 90+% of ACE scholars consistently graduating high school. Moreover, they’re graduating from college at a rate nearly double that of their peers from predominantly low-income high schools.* *All ACE graduation stats based on national numbers.