Finish Line Scholars Program Finish Line Scholars Program

Eliminating Regional Achievement Gaps: Student Scholarships and Emergency Financial Aid

The California Community Colleges Finish Line Scholars Program supports students to ensure they stay on track with their education and complete a degree or certificate, or transfer to a four year college or university.

The program is intended to help eliminate regional educational gaps through distribution of emergency financial aid to students facing unexpected hardships and scholarships to students who are well on their way toward a finish line goal of transferring to a college or university or completing a certificate or degree.

The Jay Pritzker Foundation has pledged $100 million, over a span of 20 years, to support this program. For the first five years, starting in 2020, scholarships and emergency financial aid were distributed to students enrolled at 34 colleges in the three regions of California with the lowest percentage of adults who have college degrees: the Inland Empire, the Central Valley, and the Far North. The number and location of eligible colleges may vary in subsequent years of the program.

Focusing on these regions aligns with goal six of the original California Community College system’s strategic plan, Vision for Success (now updated to Vision 2030). That goal is to eliminate regional gaps in higher education achievement. These regions have the lowest rates of educational attainment of adults. They also have a high percentage of students without access to broadband, students living below the poverty line, high school students who receive free or reduced price lunch, and other factors that make them a priority. Increasing the number of people who have a college education in these regions will help decrease poverty and increase local opportunities.