Camila Garcia-Llaurado knows the difference that a full ride scholarship can make.
A second year student in the Honors College at Miami Dade College, Garcia-Llaurado says she was able to quit her job working at Publix to focus on her studies full-time — joining the student arts publication Metamorphosis, becoming Vice President of the Wolfson Campus Student Government Association, and critically, giving her the time to discover who she wants to become.
“I have no clue where I would be [without scholarships],” Garcia-Llaurado said. “I probably would have been still here. But paying for my tuition. Really stressed out.”
Instead, she’s been able to ‘completely dedicate her life to her education.'
And on Monday, she got to share the stage with none other than MDC President Madeline Pumariega and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava for the launch of a new scholarship that officials hope will give even more students the freedom, flexibility and opportunity that comes with debt-free higher education.
The Future Ready Miami-Dade Scholarship program seeks to ensure that “all Miami-Dade County residents can complete an associate degree at Miami Dade College at zero cost."
MDC President Madeline Pumariega says the scholarship is geared towards the “missing middle”: working families who make too much for federal Pell Grants — for those from low-income backgrounds — but not enough to cover the costs of college on their own.
“This really is aiming to help the middle class families in our community that oftentimes don't have a path without getting into debt,” Pumariega said. “They don't have that discretionary income. So if their child wants to come, oftentimes they do it taking a loan or putting it on a credit card, right?”
To qualify for the Future Ready Miami-Dade Scholarship:
- Students must be entering college for the first time or be a graduating dual enrollee
- Students must have earned a high school diploma, GED or home school diploma in Miami-Dade County
- Students must enroll full time (for 12 or more credits) in the fall term following high school graduation
- Students must currently reside in Miami-Dade County
- Students must have a cumulative high school GPA of at least a 2.0
- Students must complete the FAFSA
- Students obtaining a standard high school diploma through Florida Virtual School will be accepted if they reside in Miami-Dade County
For more information on the scholarship and how to apply, visit www.mdc.edu/future-ready.
MDC launched the program through a partnership with Miami-Dade County, after the Miami-Dade County Commission set aside $3 million in dedicated funding over the next three years. MDC officials expect an estimated 2,000 students will benefit from the scholarship in the first year.
The funding can be used to cover in-state tuition and can be used in combination with other grants, financial aid and scholarships.
“There are lots of jobs that don't require this kind of education — and that's great — but many do. And I for sure know that the education that folks will receive here with that last dollar from the Future Ready scholarship will change their lives. And change our collective lives, our economy here in Miami-Dade,” said Levine Cava.
In addition to the funding from the Miami-Dade County Commission, CareerSource South Florida has also committed to help provide “wraparound services” to students in the Future Ready program.
“We’re going to help in childcare, we’re going to help in rent, we're going to help in transportation,” said CareerSource South Florida Executive Director Rick Beasley. “There’s no excuse why that student should not accumulate the college credits they need to finish. Period.”
Because the funding was allocated through the county’s regular budget process, in the coming years, the County Commission would have to vote to approve additional funding to keep the program going. Still, Pumariega says she’s confident the scholarship will sell itself.
“I think that everyone will agree that our young people and their education is such an important investment for us to make,” she said. “And if you think about what the cost is in comparison to the lives we will change, I think it'll be hard for anybody in the future to say the kids aren't worth it.”
