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Since 1997, Inner-City Scholarship Fund's Be A Student's Friend (BASF) program has been providing scholarships to inner-city elementary and high school students (K-12). Every year, hundreds of children are in danger of leaving ICSF schools because tuition expenses have become unmanageable, often due to a family crisis such as death, disability or loss of employment. BASF addresses this crisis by matching students with individual sponsors who underwrite a portion of their tuition.
Nearly 1,700 students are recipients of BASF scholarships, thanks to our generous sponsors who contribute $2,200 per year for an elementary school student or $2,700 for a high school student. Each student's family is responsible for the difference in full tuition. Sponsors choose how involved they would like to be with their student. Many exchange letters and visit their student at school, while some prefer to remain anonymous. Our students are very proud to have a sponsor, to know that someone they may never have met cares for them. So many work hard in school in spite of great obstacles, because they know that someone out there believes they can succeed.
A BASF Advisory Committee helps steer the initiative by providing input and initiating campaigns to garner new sponsors. As sponsors themselves, they understand firsthand, the need of the students and that of the sponsors.
This year BASF will provide over $3 million in scholarships to some of the city's neediest students. There are many additional students enrolled in school in need of support, with 160 currently on a wait list, hoping each day that a sponsor will be interested in providing tuition assistance to their families so that they could remain in a school which allows them to flourish and shine.
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