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Schenectady Smart Scholars Early College High School

Schenectady Smart Scholars Early College High School is a partnership between the State University of New York (SUNY), Schenectady County Community College (SUNY Schenectady) and Schenectady High School (SHS) with the intent to establish a collaborative learning and teaching environment for incoming 9th graders. All partners are committed to facilitating positive, transformational changes which provide for a more successful and wide reaching program for a target student population which is traditionally underrepresented in college.

The Purpose

  • To increase high school graduation rates;
  • To increase the number of student who complete postsecondary credential/degree;
  • To address needs of students from populations traditionally underrepresented in college;
  • To help close our nation's student achievement gap; and
  • To do all this at no additional cost to the student or their family.

The Goal

Each student enrolled in Smart Scholars will graduate high school with a Regents Diploma and will successfully transition into college with at least 20 credit hours earned and transferred.

Criteria for Application

  • Student must be currently enrolled in the 8th grade in Schenectady City School District and being considered eligible for the 9th grade;
  • Student must be identified as belonging to a population that has historically not had access to or success in higher education (i.e., minority, potential first generation college student; from a single parent household or in foster care, etc…);
  • Student must demonstrate academic performance for 7th and 8th grade that is higher than 65%;
  • Student experiences financial constraints or burdens (i.e., receives free and reduced lunches, low family income, recent family income changes, considered economically disadvantaged, etc…);
  • Student must have successfully completed the application for admission; submitted two (2) letters of recommendation completed by employees of the Schenectady City School District, and participated in an intake interview.