SC students statewide now eligible for scholarship allowing a debt-free degree

Nearly 3,000 students in the Class of 2027 could attend college with the scholarship that fills gaps not covered by other aid — up to $10,000 annually for four years for students who keep at least a B average. State funding will pay for an estimated 2,300 of the scholarships awarded next year.

“It’s an unbelievable thing,” said Ben Navarro, the Charleston businessman and philanthropist who founded the scholarship program.

“It’s not limited to numbers. It’s not a beauty contest. It’s none of those things,” he said Thursday during a virtual news conference from the Center for Intentionality student center that he provided to the College of Charleston.

The scholarship offers a path to success, he said, for any student who demonstrates financial need by qualifying for a federal Pell Grant and the ability to do well in school by receiving a lottery-funded LIFE or Palmetto Fellows scholarship: “That’s basically it.”

What began as a scholarship for Charleston County high school students, starting with the Class of 2021, has spread to 14 counties with private donations from Navarro and his wife, Kelly, and other philanthropists. They include Darla Moore of Lake City, whose donation first expanded the program into the Pee Dee. Donors have collectively committed roughly $88 million so far.

Once the statewide expansion is fully implemented in 2030, when today’s eighth graders become eligible, roughly 10,000 students annually will be attending college with a Meeting Street Scholarship. That is, if the Legislature fulfills the commitment. Funded this year through lottery profits, the state’s share of the aid will need to increase to nearly $60 million yearly, Navarro said.

“I feel super confident this scholarship is here to stay,” he said.

As evidence, he referenced statements from legislative leaders.

The expansion “gives thousands of hardworking students an opportunity they’ve earned and strengthens the future of South Carolina,” House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, said in a news release. “This is an investment worth making, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to secure the support necessary to continue this opportunity for the Class of 2027 and future classes.”

Of the nearly 2,220 students awarded a scholarship since 2021, 88% of them have either graduated or remain in college, according to Navarro’s nonprofit Beemok Education, which runs the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund and other education programs he founded.

On average, the scholarships fill a $7,900 gap in the cost of tuition, housing, meals and other fees not covered by other aid.

Brianna Ramirez, entering her second year at the College of Charleston, is among the nearly half of scholarship recipients who are the first of their family to attend college.

“This is more than just a scholarship to me,” Ramirez, a graduate of Charleston County’s Academic Magnet High School, said during a virtual news conference. “It represents hope and opportunity not just for me but the rest of my family.”

She recalled seeing “pure joy and hope” on her father’s face at the Celebration Summit, held annually for first-year recipients, and she hopes to “show the power of getting an education” to her three younger sisters, so they enter the program too. A business major, she has a GPA of 3.66.

“That’s what I mean about investing in our future,” Navarro said. “We want Brianna here, in South Carolina, attending one of our colleges. We want her to stay here after that, and that’s what a scholarship like this can do.”

Scholarship program that enables debt-free college now available in 13 SC counties

Of the program’s graduates so far, 70% left college with zero debt, and 80% stayed in South Carolina to work, according to Beemok.

The $15 billion state spending plan that legislators sent Tuesday to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk included the public-private partnership. In the 32-county expansion, 20% of the scholarships will be privately funded, while state lottery profits fund 80%. In the 14 “legacy” counties, private donations will continue to fully fund scholarships.

The state budget isn’t finalized yet. It takes effect with McMaster’s line-item vetoes, expected to be issued Monday. But the governor is guaranteed not to veto spending he recommended. The Legislature ultimately funded $3.7 million more than he put in his executive proposal.

That’s due to one big change in the eligibility rules: Previously, only graduates of public high schools qualified for the program.

The estimates increased when legislative leaders asked that graduates of private schools and homeschools qualify as well, said Josh Bell, president of Beemok Education.

Asked what happens if the numbers exceed estimates, Navarro made clear no qualifying student will be turned down.

“One way or another, we will fund every one of them,” he said of private donations. “If we exceed the state dollars, we’ll find a way. Anyone that qualifies will be in.”

The program also has a work component.

Starting this school year, students in their second and third years of college must work 250 hours to keep their scholarship next year, which can include a part-time job on or off campus, internship, or research.

More than 80% of recipients were doing that anyway. The new requirement, announced in May, aims to ensure students get the work experience they need to get a job after graduation, Bell said.

Scholarship recipient Sy’Mone Miles, who’s entering her senior year at the University of South Carolina, said she sees it as more of a needed nudge than a requirement.

“It’s just really a great push in the right direction to ensure that we have the best future after college,” said Miles, a graduate of Early College High School in Charleston County, whose leadership roles at USC include organizing networking events for other scholarship recipients.

For her, she said, the scholarship means “being able to not put any financial burden on my parents at all for the cost of college, which has been really liberating.”

Navarro stressed that none of the state aid goes to administrative costs. “Every single dollar” provided through the state budget goes to scholarships, he said, as all overhead expenses are fully covered by the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund run by Beemok.

“This isn’t giving out money,” he said. “You have to earn this scholarship. Not every kid is supposed to be in college, but if you meet these criteria, if you work hard in school, you should go to college. This allows it to happen and allows it to be affordable.”