About the Scholarship

Any full-time 8th grade Rochester City School District student, when invited to do so, shall be eligible to apply for monetary incentives if he/she meets the eligibility criteria established by the Board for academic performance, financial need, and good character. 

Students who are accepted into the program must meet the minimum grade point average of a 3.25 for two consecutive marking periods, exhibit good character, and demonstrate financial need. Because the amount of stipends available for incentives is limited, selection is based on students' GPAs and family situations.

Once enrolled in the program, the higher a student's GPA, the higher the stipend he/she will receive each marking period. The ranges are as follows: 

• 4.0-4.5 — $150/marking period

• 3.5-3.99 — $112/marking period

• 3.25-3.49 — $75/marking period 

Students are considered in good standing unless they fall below a 3.25 GPA or receive an F in a subject. In either case, students will be placed on probation for one marking period. Should the student fall below a 3.25 or receive an F a second time in one school year, he/she will be dropped from the program for the remainder of that school year. Students who are dropped from the program will be advised of the process for appeal; however, an appeal to the Board does not guarantee reinstatement.

Read the full eligibility requirements here.

History of the Rochester Children’s Scholarship Fund 

RCSF was initially established in 1916 as the Rochester Memorial Children’s Fund when students found it necessary to go to work to help with family finances. The fund provided financial support to students as a means of keeping them in the educational system. It also served as a living memorial to those serving in World War I. With the increasing need to support the most at-risk and underperforming students in the RCSD, resources are spread thin. Consequently, students who are the top performers in the RCSD often get lost in the shuffle, receive little or no attention, and have difficulty accessing resources when they need support. While 10% of RCSD students in grades 9-12 were eligible for the RCSF program in the 1999-2000 school year, only 4.5% met eligibility requirements 5 years later. Failure to invest in these students can only lead to increasing dropout rates at younger ages, higher unemployment and underemployment, increased crime and poverty rates, growing prison populations and increasing welfare costs, and ever lower wages. A Millken study states that, “where companies used to attract intellectual capital, now intellectual capital attracts corporations.” In an economy with an increasing appetite for educated workers, the cost of ignoring our most creative and brightest among the academically advanced, financially challenged student is exorbitant.