Greene County

The second year of the College for Everyone Program at GreeneCentral High School rural North Carolina has begun.  Greene County Schools are in an poor (70 percent of students receive free or reduced lunch) and ethnically mixed district (about 50% African-American, 33% White, and 15% Hispanic) in Snow Hill in eastern North Carolina (about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh).  The program pays for students' freshman year at any of the state's 16 public universities or community colleges in counties surrounding Greene.  The "College for Everyone" program covers the college bills of high-school seniors who complete a college prep or college tech course in high school, refrain from using drugs or alcohol, and don't get suspended or commit a crime.  Scholarship winners must also promise to spend 10 hours a week during their first year of college volunteering.  Low-income families and first-generation students are especially targeted for the scholarships and the CFE program works in concert with the College Summit organization.