“We are delighted to partner with New Haven Promise to offer scholarships to deserving students in the New Haven public schools,” said Quinnipiac President Judy Olian. “I believe education is a basic human right. Quinnipiac will continue to develop and expand programs that encourage new populations to enter Quinnipiac, build inclusive excellence, and provide access to the rich portfolio of learning and growth opportunities at our university. I look forward to welcoming these outstanding New Haven Promise students into the Quinnipiac family.”

Under this new agreement, accepted students who earn the New Haven Promise scholarship and enroll at Quinnipiac in the fall following their high school graduation will receive a minimum of $25,000 of institutional aid per year as long as they meet Promise’s on-going academic standards for eligibility. Those students will also receive the offer of an on-campus paid work-study job during the school year.

“While the most notable parts of this agreement are very exciting on their own, Quinnipiac University is also allocating resources and personnel for both the academic and financial needs of Promise scholars who attend,” said New Haven Promise President Patricia Melton.

“With this new and significant premier partnership, Quinnipiac University helps ensure its role in the collaborative effort to close the achievement and opportunity gaps in New Haven’s public school system — as mayor and as a New Haven Promise board member I’m most grateful,” Mayor Toni N. Harp said. “This commitment by Quinnipiac makes New Haven Promise all-the-more robust as an attractive, attainable scholarship program for New Haven’s secondary school students — I hope it particularly inspires those who would be the first in their families to attend college.”

To date, 17 New Haven Promise scholars have earned bachelor's degrees from Quinnipiac.

All 17 have been students of color. The vast majority have come from low-income households and were the first in their families to graduate from college.

Among those graduates are Priscilla Maldonado and Erving Xochipiltecatl, both 2011 grads of Hill Regional Career High School.

Maldonado was the first Promise scholar to earn a four-year degree back in 2014, when she earned the first Legacy Award from New Haven Promise. Maldonado finished her degree in three years and then earned her master’s degree in 2016. This spring she began a position as a social worker for Yale New Haven Hospital.

Xochipiltecatl, a 2015 Quinnipiac graduate, is now a portfolio and grant analyst at the Yale University School of Public Health. He is also completing his MBA from the University of Connecticut.

The New Haven Promise program joins Quinnipiac’s existing scholarship program designed to assist Hamden and North Haven high school graduates.