Former U.S. Ambassador and mayor of Atlanta, Andrew Young has partnered with publishing company McGraw Hill to launch an HBCU scholarship program. 

Young, a 1951 graduate of Howard University, said he probably never spent more than $400 a semester for his education and graduated debt-free. However, today, the average cost of college in the United States is $35,551 per student per year, which includes books, supplies and daily living expenses.

“The challenge today is how do you get an education and get a job to help pay you to pay back all of that money you borrowed that is going to leave you in debt,” Young said. “College should not destroy your credit rating and set you back before you start.”

Young launched the scholarship fund at the Atlanta University Center on Friday with the support of Georgia legislators, civil rights leaders and students, according to the Associated Press.

The scholarship program is funded by McGraw Hill Education, a division of McGraw Hill Publishing. It aims to create an “educational ecosystem” to support high school students taking the organization’s current civil rights education course. 

McGraw Hill Education has made an initial investment of $50,000 which will begin funding 10 first-year students next fall who plan to attend HBCUs. According to the AJC, Sean Ryan, the president of McGraw Hill, said that the company will invest more money into the program in the future.

The scholarship program is the idea of Matt Daniels, the law and human rights division chair at the Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. He also created “Civil Rights: A Global Perspective,” a curriculum funded by McGraw Hill and included in its American and world history textbook series.

Daniels discussed the significance of the initiative and how it could influence scholarship recipients’ futures. “We want to use this to plug the gap,” Daniels said. “For many students, HBCUs are usually the first ladder out of poverty.”

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