Idaho State University receives $1 million in scholarship funds as part of Albertson Foundation “Go On” program

Idaho State University will receive $1 million in scholarship funds as part of the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation $20 million "Go On" program that was announced Monday, Nov. 23.

"Go On" is a statewide initiative designed to address Idaho’s post-secondary success rate and increase opportunities for Idaho students. Idaho ranks 43^rd nationally when considering students who enter college and complete a degree. This program will help the state improve that ranking.

According to the Idaho Department of Labor, three out of every four jobs in Idaho will require post-secondary training and education by 2014. However, the reality is that two-thirds of American ninth graders will not be prepared for college within four years, and half of those who actually go to college will never earn a degree.  Workers with a degree stand to earn double those with a high school diploma alone.

The primary goal of the "Go On" project is to distribute $11 million in targeted, statewide scholarships to help Idaho improve college opportunities and increase post-secondary participation and completion rates. Idaho State University, along with Idaho’s other institutions of higher learning, will receive $1 million for scholarships.

"This is an incredibly insightful and generous program that the Albertson Foundation has created," said Don Colby, ISU associate vice president for advancement. "We are awed by the magnitude of this gift and grateful to the Albertsons Foundation for taking such an important leadership position to inspire and support future Idaho State University students, many of whom will be able to confidently 'go on' with their educations."

The "Go On" scholarships will focus on five groups of students:

•  first-generation college students.

• students who want to return to school to complete degrees.

• transfer students going on to additional college after completing their core requirements.

• non-traditional students who graduated high school at least one year ago and have never attended college.

• students who excelled in high school and have completed four years of math and science.

In addition to the scholarship monies, the Albertson Foundation’s "Go On" program pledged $6 million to the Idaho Education Network (IEN) "to increase equal educational opportunities and access to relevant data to Idaho stakeholders statewide."

The new program will also commit $3 million for an awareness campaign about additional opportunities beyond high school and for KnowHow2Go Idaho, a support and guidance program that helps turn college dreams into action-oriented goals.

In addition to the initial awareness campaign, the Foundation is announcing three additional components of the Go On Program.

"We created and funded the statewide awareness Go On initiative, which combines a thought-provoking messaging and advertising campaign that we hope will capture the attention of students, parents, government, business and other important stakeholders," said Jamie MacMillan, the Foundation’s executive director. "We are committed to raising awareness and, even more importantly, to converting that awareness into action.  We need to better prepare and provide opportunities for Idaho’s kids to ‘Go On’ — go on to high-quality jobs; go on to technical training; go on to post-secondary institutions — if we want them to ‘go on’ to a better life."

To learn more about the Go On initiative, visit www.jkaf.org.  The Foundation recently re-launched jkaf.org to serve as a resource and tool for students, parents and others who are interested in getting a quality, affordable education.  The site will feature a blog and newsfeed that will provide Idahoans the most relevant, expert information related to education.

The J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation is a private, Idaho-based family foundation, dedicated to making a measurable positive impact on improving education in Idaho.