Seeding a Simple Concept that Works
“If you graduate from high school in Seattle and you want to come to college, we’re going to help you do that,” says Senior Executive Director of Seattle Promise Melody McMillan.
All high school students in the Seattle Public School System are eligible for Seattle Promise. The program provides free tuition for students attending Seattle Colleges and equity scholarships covering things like books, transportation and housing. In addition, students receive advising from when they are juniors in high school to when they complete a degree, receive a certificate credential or transfer to a four-year university.
“Every June at graduation, it’s magical,” says McMillan. “The students who come through the program are rockstars.”
“Every June at graduation, it’s magical,” says McMillan. “The students who come through the program are rockstars.”
The Tipping Point
“It began based on the 13th year tipping point, a research-based theory,” says Dr. Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap, Chancellor of Seattle Colleges. “If students complete 45 college credits, they are more likely to complete a college degree.”
In 2007, the program was just an idea. With leadership from then South Seattle College President Gary Oertli, who had come from Michigan and experienced the successful Kalamazoo Promise, working in Seattle alongside Director of Advancement Elizabeth Pluhta-Inman, and Rimando-Chareunsap, the then director of Outreach and Admissions, among others, and with funding from the then Seattle Community Foundation, the program began to take shape.
“We launched the 13th Year Scholarship with Cleveland High School first just as a scholarship,” Rimando-Chareunsap says. “We quickly learned that students needed more than funding. They needed support, and we could provide that if we had staffing.”
So, Oertli wrote a grant request, and College Spark provided additional funding that allowed them to hire Aaron Garcia. Working part-time, he would support students, first in high school and then when they started college. He’d grown up in White Center and had experience doing similar work in the Upward Bound program.
“Without that initial funding, the program would have floundered,” Rimando-Chareunsap says. “Instead, it grew from there.” They now had a proof of concept to take to donors and build an endowment to include all four South Seattle College service area high schools.
The Soon-to-Be Mayor Notices
When the program expanded to Rainier Beach in 2017, they held a surprise assembly for seniors, with students who had benefited from the program inspiring those coming up next. “It was awesome,” Rimando-Chareunsap says. “It had become a story of generational impact that kept building on itself.” King 5 News covered the event.
Then, the firm running Jenny Durkan’s mayoral campaign wanted to learn more about the concept, so Rimando-Chareunsap filled them in. Two weeks later, they announced the program as part of her campaign, something she would implement citywide. Then, she got elected.
“At this point, it picked up a lot of steam,” says Rimando-Chareunsap, who joined the City’s Design team as the 13th Year Scholarship became the Seattle Promise.
The Program Expands
Under Mayor Durkan’s leadership, the City of Seattle included the program in its regular Families and Education Levy, which was approved in 2018. That funding allowed the program to cover two years of community college with wrap-around support for all Seattle high schools and all the schools in the Seattle Colleges network.
McMillan, previously the director of academic advising at North Seattle College, was hired to lead Seattle Promise. “Being a part of the expansion of the 13th Year Scholarship and Seattle Promise has been the most challenging, most rewarding life experience,” says McMillan. “It’s amazing to see the program’s evolution to where it is now.”
On November 7, the day after the levy passed, McMillan couldn’t wait to share the good news. “I told my team to call all the students and tell them that the program is paying for their second year of college.”
By fall 2019, Seattle Promise had staff members in 17 high schools. Then, as the pandemic began in early March, they thought student interest and ability to come to college might drop. “Instead, we saw the opposite,” McMillan says. “Seattle Promise provided a path toward something certain and consistent.”
As part of Seattle Promise’s support services, they were checking in, answering questions about the FAFSA, and holding workshops online. In 2020 and 2021 Even more students expressed interest, and followed through, than they would have expected in non-pandemic years, a trend that continues today.
“Every year, nearly double the number of students enroll,” says McMillan. “The expansion of the 13th Year Scholarship Program has clearly filled a need in the community. In five years, we’ve gone from 230-something students enrolled from a handful of high schools to 22 high schools and 1500 students enrolled, despite the pandemic interrupting the program’s expansion year.”
One of the reasons has been effective partnerships in funding and implementation. Today, the close collaboration between Seattle Colleges, Seattle Public Schools, and the City of Seattle continues to help Seattle Promise to be proactive and fill gaps. “It’s a case study in how big complex organizations can come together in alignment toward an end goal,“ McMillan says. “And we’re paying a lot of attention to retention and completion.”
“It’s a proven concept turned into a promise that’s become a living and growing community legacy. ”
More Promise
As Rimando-Chareunsap and McMillan look ahead, they’re excited for what’s next. At this point, they know exactly how to adequately staff the effort so students have what they need to succeed. At the high school level, they have one recruitment person for every 300 students. Once students enroll in college, it’s one advisor for every 100 students. However, with how the program has grown and the levy expiring in 2026, the remaining funds aren’t adequate to match staff levels to student interest and need during these final two years. So, they are in conversation with the City of Seattle about how to fill the gaps and plan for expansion with the new levy. “It’s a good problem to have,” says Rimando-Chareunsap. “The concept works.”
In addition, Rimando-Chareunsap also imagines additional support. “Considering the wealth of individuals and corporations in this community, I see Seattle philanthropy, businesses and foundations coming together to endow this citywide so it’s not dependent on Seattle taxpayer money,” she says. This would take it out of the political and into the community realm.”
The present and future impact of the program cannot be overstated. It makes higher education available to an entire community, increasing equity, opportunity and collective impact at scale. For students, it’s an investment in a prosperous future. “Graduates continue to experience that investment as they move forward with life,” says McMillan.
“It’s helping Seattleites thrive in Seattle,” says Rimando-Chareunsap says. “I’m in it for the long haul and want to carry the water all the way.” Doing this work for so long, she remembers working alongside those who first worked to make this vision a reality, like Oertli who is now retired and Pluhta-Inman, who died in 2019. She celebrates the efforts of the first recruiter/advisor they hired, Aaron Garcia, who went on to serve on the Highline School Board as a young man and was recognized for his advocacy work. He continues to live in and serve his community, like so many other educated young people and those coming up behind them. It’s a proven concept turned into a promise that’s become a living and growing community legacy.
