Birmingham and UAB Partner to Offer Free Tuition to City Graduates
The University of Alabama at Birmingham will offer full tuition scholarships to some graduates of Birmingham City Schools as part of a new partnership with the City of Birmingham.
The city and UAB announced the scholarship program Thursday morning at a press conference.
“It makes a down payment on our city’s economic competitiveness,” Mayor Randall Woodfin says.
The Birmingham Promise Scholarship is part of a city initiative that plans to offer graduates of Birmingham schools full tuition to all in-state public universities and colleges. UAB is the first academic partner to support the Birmingham Promise with a scholarship. UAB estimates it’ll contribute $250,000 the first year, according to a spokesperson for the city. The Birmingham Promise Incorporated does not yet have an estimate on how much it’ll contribute.
“We are committed to supporting access to educational opportunities for Birmingham students, for they will be our city’s future leaders and workforce,” UAB President Ray L. Watts says.
Beginning this May, all Birmingham graduates with a minimum 2.75 GPA and a 20 on the ACT will be eligible for the scholarship. It’ll cover the cost of tuition to first-time full-time students for up to five years. But graduates must first fill out the FAFSA form and apply to UAB to be eligible.
“The partnership shows that UAB is invested in developing the hopes, dreams and capabilities of our next generation,” Woodfin says. “UAB’s partnership in the Birmingham Promise is an example of the collaboration we need to make our community more connected and our economy more competitive.”
Once admitted to UAB, students must maintain a 2.0 GPA, attend full-time and demonstrate progress toward a degree.
Editor’s Note: UAB holds the broadcast license for WBHM, but our news and business departments operate independently.
Supreme Court allows Trump to resume mass federal layoffs for now
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed to the court by President Biden, dissented.
Graphics: Where the Texas floods happened and how high the waters rose
One Guadalupe River gauge near Kerrville and Camp Mystic recorded a rise of more than 25 feet in two hours.
Haiti’s iconic Hotel Oloffson, long a cultural beacon, destroyed by gang violence
The Hotel Oloffson in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, long a haven for artists and writers, poets and presidents, a symbol of Haiti's troubled politics and its storied past, has been destroyed by gangs.
New books this week focus on Caitlin Clark, King Tut, and how ‘Democrats Lost America’
Plus: a new novel from Gary Shteyngart, a true story of a shipwreck, and a memoir from a wrongly incarcerated inmate who was exonerated after 28 years behind bars.
Shoes off at the airport? TSA appears to be giving the pesky rule the boot
For nearly twenty years, most air travelers in the U.S. have been required to remove their shoes when going through security. That requirement seems to be ending.
Texas flood recovery efforts face tough conditions as local officials face hard questions
Emergency responders kept hope alive as they combed through fallen trees and other debris that littered the hard-hit central Texas communities on the fifth day after devastating floods killed more than 100.
