Update: Guilford County Wins "Say Yes to Education" Designation

(Updated Thursday, 11:19 a.m.)

Guilford County students will be the first in the South to benefit from the Say Yes to Education campaign.

The news came during an event Thursday morning attended by local and national Say Yes representatives.

Guilford County Schools beat out about two dozen others competing to win the Say Yes designation. The program originates from a New York-based nonprofit that partners with communities to help more kids get into and pay for college.

The announcement means that, beginning in 2016, Guilford high school seniors will be able to take advantage of scholarships that bridge the gap between what they can pay and the actual cost of tuition at public universities statewide. Several private universities have also signed on.

As part of the Thursday announcement, officials also noted new investment in the Guilford Say Yes initiative.

Local leaders needed to raise $28 million in private donations to qualify for the program. They've raised more than $32 million so far, with the latest pledge for $500,000 coming from HondaJet. 

(Ed.: Original story continues below.)

Guilford County Public School students are one step closer to getting free money towards their college tuition. That's because the county is the leading candidate to become the next Say Yes to Education Community.

A pep rally is scheduled for Thursday morning at Ragsdale High School where program leaders are expected to announce whether or not the county will be selected.

Here's how the program would work: students who graduate from Guilford County Public Schools would receive a scholarship to help bridge the cost of tuition after financial aid to attend a public college or university in North Carolina. And even if tuition is already covered, a student could still be eligible for money to help pay for books or other expenses.

These scholarships would be paid out of a local endowment raised by community contributions. So far, donors have given about $28 million.

Dozens of private colleges and universities across the country have also signed on to Say Yes to provide similar scholarships.

Nora Carr is chief of staff with the school system. She says it would have the biggest impact on Guilford County's poorest students.

“We all know that kids can learn and do amazing things, but we also know if you don't know where your head is going to sleep at night, or if you are hungry, or your teeth are rotting in your mouth, you not going to learn as well as a child setting next to you who doesn't have any of those issues,” Carr says.

Organizers say the program would also provide additional services like tutoring, mobile health clinics, and more. Those would be decided with other community partners after Say Yes is finished going through the district's finances and student data.

If Guilford County is named the next Say Yes to Education Community, the class of 2016 will be the first to receive the scholarships.

The program has been implemented in two other urban public school districts in recent years: Syracuse and Buffalo, New York.

*Follow Keri Brown on Twitter @keri_news

WFDD's Sean Bueter contributed to the update in this report.