Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar Information

The mission of Capital Region-Sponsor-A-Scholar is to inspire and empower promising, underserved students to succeed in high school, college, and life. Our hope is that many will attend local colleges and, upon graduation, become role models to other students in their communities. Capital Region Sponsor-A-Scholar, launched in Albany and Troy in 1997 and expanded to Schenectady in 2000, is a college preparation and access program for public high school students. Funded with private donations, it is designed to improve students’ academic and study skills in high school, to develop their career and educational plans, and to help them enter and succeed in college. Sponsor-A-Scholar serves academically promising, economically disadvantaged, mostly first-generation-to-college, students. At present, there are 88 tenth to 12th graders participating across the three school districts; Sponsor-A-Scholar participants’ high school success rate is 98% versus the 65% average in Albany, Schenectady and Troy public high schools. College degree attainment exceeds 70%, nearly double the national rate for the same population.