State Schools Superintendent Molly Spearman said this week that the S.C. Legislature should make it tougher to qualify for a college scholarship. If legislators do not change state law – which now says high school students with a “B” average are eligible for a scholarship – 11,500 more public school students could be eligible for scholarship money according to Spearman.
The S.C. Department of Education changed the state’s K-12 grading system to a 10-point scale, making a “B” a score from 80 to 89, when it had been from 85 to 92.
That move – making it easier to get a “B” – means more high school seniors will qualify for scholarship money. Over four years, paying for those added scholarships could cost the state $88 million and, if no changes are made to the program, another $42 million a year thereafter.
There was also concern from the NCAA, which regulates college athletics, that the former grading scale hurt S.C. student-athletes in qualifying for college admission.