Pittsburgh Public Schools' Class of 2028 will be last to receive Pittsburgh Promise scholarships

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Class of 2028 will be the final group of students to receive Pittsburgh Promise scholarships, the nonprofit behind the scholarships said in a letter to district parents.

Saleem Ghubril, executive director of The Pittsburgh Promise, said he is confident that the nonprofit will be able to complete its $265 million fundraising campaign to provide scholarships to students through the Class of 2028.

After that, Ghubril said, “We do not believe that there is capacity in the private sector … to exceed that goal for future classes.”

Pittsburgh Promise needs $11 million to complete its fundraising campaign, Ghubril told the Tribune-Review. In 2015, when the class of 2028 entered kindergarten, it needed nearly $75 million.

Pittsburgh Promise has provided more than $170 million in scholarships for 11,435 Pittsburgh Public Schools graduates to attend post-secondary schools in Pennsylvania since 2008, when it began awarding scholarships, officials said.

The nonprofit is funded through private donations. It doesn’t receive money from the school district.

Pittsburgh Promise leaders “are thoroughly, strategically and compassionately working to craft the Pittsburgh Promise’s post-2028 role and work,” Ghubril said in the letter.

Pittsburgh Promise’s scholarship awards have coincided with — some say caused — improvements in the district’s graduation rate.

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ graduation rate climbed from 63% when the Pittsburgh Promise was introduced to 74% in 2014. Ghubril said the district’s 2022 graduation rate was 80%.

To qualify for up to $20,000 in Promise scholarships to attend a higher-education school in Pennsylvania, students must:

• Graduate from a Pittsburgh Public Schools high school in or before 2028.

• Be residents of the City of Pittsburgh and be enrolled in a Pittsburgh Public Schools high school or one of its charter schools, continuously, since ninth grade.

• Graduate with a minimum GPA of 2.50 and an attendance record of 90% or above.

Pittsburgh Public Schools, Allegheny County’s largest school district and the second largest in Pennsylvania, has a $685 million operating budget this year. It has close to 4,000 employees — nearly 1,900 of them teachers.

Class sizes, though, continue to shrink, Ghubril said. Nearly 1,900 students graduated from Pittsburgh public high schools in 2008 compared to 1,350 earlier this year.

School district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh declined to comment on Ghubril’s letter or the scholarship funding. School board President Sala Udin did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

Promise scholarships have changed over the years.

For the program’s first four years (2008 through 2011), the maximum scholarship was $5,000 a year, officials said. From 2012 to 2016, Pittsburgh Promise scholarships doubled to $10,000 a year and could be used to cover costs such as room, board and books.

The scholarships dropped to $7,500 a year, or $30,000 over four years, in 2017 and then back to $5,000 a year, or $20,000 over four years, in 2018, according to the Pittsburgh Promise website.