Say Yes to Education adds 11 schools to compact offering free tuition to eligible students

Say Yes to Education Inc. today announced that 11 additional private colleges and universities, including Cornell University and Hamilton College, have joined the organization’s Higher Education Compact, which offers free tuition to eligible students.

Say Yes to Education, headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing high school and college graduation rates for students in urban school districts, including Syracuse.

The 11 schools bring to 54 the total number involved in the Say Yes Higher Education Compact.

The program is available to all public-school students in Syracuse, the office of U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) said in a news release.

George Weiss, the money manager who founded Say Yes to Education 26 years ago, made the announcement on Capitol Hill. Gillibrand, who supports the program, joined Weiss for the announcement.

The 11 new institutions include Cornell University, Hamilton College, and Paul Smith’s College in New York; Dartmouth College in New Hampshire; Princeton University in New Jersey; Rice University in Texas; Pomona College in California; Denison University in Ohio; and Rhodes College, Sewanee: The University of the South, and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

Say Yes To Education has always been about “hope,” Weiss said in the news release from Gillibrand’s office.

“By standing with Say Yes, what these private colleges and universities are saying is that our students will have the same opportunities as anyone else in this wonderful country of ours,” Weiss said.

Say Yes to Education, which serves nearly 65,000 children in kindergarten through 12th grade, has been working with the Syracuse City School District since 2008.

 Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com