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<\/p>\n‘On the Record’: Indian River State College Promise Program provides free tuition, room, board for students<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat do you get when you tell *** high school student you’ll cover their tuition, room and board to get an associate’s degree from Indian River State College? You get highly motivated students jumpstarting their futures, and you get the Promise program. Let’s go on the record. From WPBF 25. This is On the Record with Todd McDermott. Good morning. We welcome Beth Gaskin, vice president for Student Success, one of the greatest titles ever. Oh thank you. Indian River State College to talk about the Promised program. Beth, High School students need to know what this is. If they haven’t heard, this is something they make. Huge difference. It’s *** scholarship program. Tell us what it is. 100%, Todd. So this is *** program that helps our local students in the Indian River, Saint Lucie, Martin, and Okeechobee counties come to college to get their associate degree tuition free. All they have to do is be at *** public school, private school, or home school within those four counties, graduate from high school, and they’re in no other requirements. Let’s just talk about the shock of what that is because when you hear *** scholarship, *** lot of students will say, mm, I don’t think I’ll qualify either financially or academically. This is not that. No, this is for really everybody who fits those criteria you mentioned, right? That’s right. And what we found in the first year, especially of the program is presenting it to high schools as this is something we promise you. It’s *** promise program we promise you we will take care of you. You promise us you will come to school full time, work hard. And continue in your program of study we found that the majority of these students qualified for federal aid, but they did not apply for it because they did not have the trust and faith like they do in the college. So when we said we’re opening this door for you, they came in and they trusted that. When you tell people about this who’ve never heard of it before, are they surprised? Are they shocked? Are they saying, come on, there’s *** catch? Totally. That was the first year, that’s all I heard. Well, what’s the catch? Well, what’s the catch? They need to go full time to college and do well in classes and continue to pursue their degree. All right. And how many, how many semesters is it to get an associate’s because I know there, there’s *** summer program that’s part of this, right? Correct. So we require students to attend full time. Um, and so that would be 12 credits in fall, 12 in spring, and 6 in summer. They can finish that then in 2 years. And if they wanna stay in Indian River, there are scholarships available for that bachelor’s degree as well, um, but the Promise program expires after the associate degree ends and as long as students stay continually enrolled, they just continue in the program. Now, is there *** grade requirement that you have to hit to keep this going? They just have to maintain the 2.0 grade point average, which is essentially *** C average. So, um, but we found Todd, that from fall to spring these students in the Promise program retain at *** higher rate than all of our other students. They come back for spring. What we have found though is that they need *** little more help in their core. Courses in fall so we’ve put *** lot of supports in place to try to help that course success rate go up, but once they commit, they’re staying. What do you attribute that to? That’s an interesting concept that that the Promise program students are more likely to stick it out and keep going. What do you attribute that to? Well, I think part of it is it’s really *** risk free, um, proposition for them. They can start. They don’t have to put anything in up front. They really are. They get their books. They try their first semester, and we try to let that first semester be the, um, we want them to do well, obviously, but if they don’t, we give them that second semester to try to pull those grades up before we go on, so it’s not super risky for students, and I think to be able to say they get through that first semester even if they don’t do well, they wanna try it again. And I think that’s extraordinary and it says *** lot I think for the faith that the students, their parents, the community has in us to continue that evolution of education. Is there any risk for the college itself? You mentioned the risk for students, but is there *** risk to do this for students? I mean, it is unusual when on its face when you say that just come and we’ll, we’ll pay for it. It seems. Maybe risky at some point financially for the college. Well, for sure, we are so fortunate at Indian River State College to have *** foundation that supports everything that our students do. So when this idea came up, which I think was on *** Tuesday, and our president said we’re launching it next Monday, so get it figured out, got it, got it, boss. So our, but our foundation quickly rose to the occasion and so this program is really funded by local philanthropy. It’s our local philanthropists that are pitching in to make sure that they have the, the nurses, the HVAC technicians, the neighbors, the educated community that they wanna have here in, um, in the Treasure Coast. You, you actually dovetailed into my next question, which is there is an associate’s degree in arts in science or applied science degree. Um, what’s the path, and you mentioned some of the occupations, but what’s the path for these students because they, after they get this degree. They can obviously still go on for bachelor’s at the colleges or elsewhere, but there are *** lot of other opportunities out there. What are some of the paths that they take? You bet. So Indian River has about 120 different programs. So if you have enough time, I’ll go into all of them, um, but if, but if you don’t, I will tell you that generally our students pursue an associate of Arts degree. And that is *** transferable degree. So that means that if they receive the AA at Indian River State College, they are guaranteed *** spot at the loc at the universities in the area. We also have *** program with UCF called Direct Connect. We have *** program with FAU that’s similar to where students receive an AA. We actually have kind of bridge program advisors that will help them get to that space that they wanna be in. So it’s great if they wanna stay with us for *** bachelor’s degree. Obviously we love that, but we, we want all of our local kids to get to where they wanna go. And if they wanna go to, um, Boca, if they wanna go to Orlando, if they wanna go to, to Gainesville, we help them get there. All right, most important thing we need to mention in this segment is there’s *** deadline if you wanna get into any Member State College and the promise. Program for the fall. You have some requirements and you need to get this done. So let’s talk about the deadline. July 13th. July 13th is our deadline and so it’s important that um if you students are interested in the Promise program that they first complete the application for admission, which is on our website, um, after that someone will contact them, be in touch about, um, classes they should take and that kind of thing. But everything you need to know about the Promise program is on Indian River State College’s website Indian River IRSC.promise.edu, and that will get people all that they need to know. But we want our students who just graduated from high school, don’t sit all summer and wonder what you’re gonna do. Take some action now to say this is really *** risk-free opportunity for me. I’m gonna make this really hard on you because I have, I’m gonna take an extra 30 seconds here. Tell me. How people with the Promise program and at the college feel about doing this for the students. Can you not tell? Um, nothing has made me prouder in my career than to have helped develop this program, to know that when you see students, um, and you’ll meet students in *** few minutes who walk across the graduation stage and they have *** bright gold stole on that says promise. And you have that moment where you say that happened because of the work that we did to help these students get to that mark. It, it’s nothing I can I can describe to you. Well, I’m glad that we have some of the pictures and the videos because it really is so outstanding. We have so much more to talk about. Beth Gaskin, thank you very much. Of course. More from on the Record. We’ll meet the students when we come back. You’re watching On the Record on WPBF 25. Welcome back. We’re talking about Indian River State College’s Promise program, providing scholarships for local students. Meet Promises scholars Solaris Elbury and Daniel Estrada. Solaris, you are *** graduate of the program, and you’re in the middle of it, Dave. OK. All right, let’s start with. Finding out about the Promise scholarship to start with, what was that like for you? How did you find out about it? So it was very unique. I was in my high school leadership class and my teacher was mentioning to us about our colleges and talking to us about our future plans and mentioned this program and it was honestly *** blessing when I heard it as well too because I was very indecisive about where I wanted to go that was affordable for our family as well. And where are you from? Vero Beach, Bureau Beach. And Daniel, what about you? How did, how did this come up in your life? Well, it’s *** very curious but also like very cool normal story. It was, uh, my final days when I was *** senior and, uh, my guidance counselor actually told me about it. I was pretty neglect like. Very little reluctant, so you were *** high school student and you didn’t wanna get it all done. You were, you’re kind of just easing into the summer and being ***, *** high school graduate. Yeah, that sounds familiar. So you heard about it and what did you do about it? Well, uh, some pressure from my family actually, you know, motivated me to do it, which it’s like, you know, my family, you know, none of my family members really focused on that aspect of their life, you know, they, they were just focused on working. Not you know, going to college and stuff, right, so you know I wanted to change. I wanted to, you know, focus on my own stuff and you know reach out to like, you know, new opportunities so, so Solaris, what was the plan before the Promise program or did you have one? I did have *** plan and. Didn’t really work out, which is good though because I wanna be here, but the plan was to apply for as many scholarships as possible, and I did the SAT about 7 times my senior year to try and get the Bright Future scholarship and go to UCF hopefully. And unfortunately it didn’t work out, but very fortunately enough I ended up at Indian River. And what are you doing now because you are *** scholar, you are *** promised scholar, so what are you doing now? So fortunately there’s *** program called Direct Connect for UCF, so I am *** recipient of that as well, and I will be attending UCF in the fall going for my bachelor’s in political science with *** concentration in international relations. Oh, that’s ***, that’s *** good major definitely. You’re talking to *** poly sci major. Really? Look what I ended up doing. Um, Daniel, what about you? Um, did you have, did you have dreams, plans before all this came up? There were some times where I did have those like big dreams of wanting to become an astronaut or some type of like you know police officer, but uh with the opportunity that I took here with the Promise program uh it introduced me to *** lot of like cool like you know aspects of like things that I wanted to do. I took *** lot of criminal justice related stuff in my high school years so now that I’m majoring now in criminal justice here at IRSC. It’s, it’s been really special, you know, to like, you know, be able to pursue the things that you want to pursue through this program. So, and what’s the big dream, and I don’t mean, I don’t mean your immediate dream after you get through the program. I mean the big dream you’re allowed to do I really wanna become *** lawyer, really I really wanna become *** lawyer, you know, seeing how as if, you know, time’s been very much, you know, changing with like, you know, AI technology, you know, the forces of like uh. In those type of things, you know, you know, with difference of like ***. Technology that’s advancing very quickly nowadays, you know, uh, some aspect of law probably is going to be very. Very effective and solos, you talked about the financial impact on your family. Um, how important is that? Did you receive *** scholarship? It is very important as I didn’t qualify for FASFSFA either, so it’s very hard on my family also being *** first generation and having *** sister as well, *** little bit stressful for my dad because he did raise us on his own and I was thankful to have *** stepmom who also stepped up, but to have the scholarship meant that not only was my family able to keep me close to home. But also watch me and help me even easier to grow and you know succeed in college as well. Alright, now I’m gonna give you both *** chance before we finish here to talk to the high school students who are out there. Uh, I’ll start with you. What, what would you tell them about the Promise program they need to know? I mean, I’ve already had like *** couple conversations with my past high school friends who were juniors before I graduated. And I’ve always told them to take that opportunity, take that opportunity take up take up, take up those that force and just go through with it, you know, so. Solaris, what do you think? What, what’s the big message you want *** student who’s watching or, or the parents of *** student who’s watching to take from what we’re doing today? Definitely. I think the biggest thing is not only is it financial freedom, but it’s also academic freedom. Say there’s *** club that you didn’t get to do in high school or maybe there’s an internship that you really wanna take. It’s not about having that financial freedom, but that time that’s now given to you and what you can do with it, and I think it’s really important that you take every opportunity and resource. And use it to its fullest advantage and build your resume and build your network because it’s going to come in so much handy later on, more than you can ever know, and you’re going to meet so many caring people right at Indian River State College who are here to help. Well, I have to tell you, if you take *** minute just to tell you both, you are tremendous representatives of the Promise program in I River State College, just wonderful. Just, it’s great that you shared your stories and we hope that other students are. Inspired by what you had to say today. Thank you both so much. Thank you. Thank you. Much more about the Promise program in just *** moment. Joining me now, Laura Midkiff, director of development for the Indian River State College Foundation, and Jamar Bellazar, senior director of development for the foundation. Thank you both for being here. Let’s talk about the Promise Program scholarship and let’s get right into the costs because we’re trying to make *** point here about keeping this going. What does it cost to put *** student through this program, this associate’s program, pay for their tuition? Room and board, what does it cost for one student? $1200 *** year. And the foundation provides that financing basically the Promise program is considered um kind of like *** scholarship of last resort, you know, first we take into account maybe *** Pell grant *** student would get, um, other scholarships they might have gotten locally. And then the foundation pays the remaining balance, so $1200 *** year for *** promised student. All right, Jabar, where’s the money come from? Because it doesn’t just grow on trees, you know, it comes from somewhere. You’re right, it comes from the local community and beyond that believes in our students, believes in the Treasure Coast, and we really wanna use. That to the best of our abilities to give back to these students and you know believe in the students that more than they believe in themselves and so um my role is to really spread the spirit of philanthropy and you know be the voice of the students because you know I ask because they can and the fact that we’re able to provide the support to our students um through the philanthropy and investment in our students is is rewarding for me. How long has the Promise program been around? 2022, 4 years. All right, 4 years. Over that period of time, what’s the evolution been like? You know, I, since I’ve worked at the college for 3 years, um, it was *** hit right off the bat, but I don’t think the word of mouth had gotten out, you know, as quickly as we had hoped it would, uh. Since its inception, it has grown year after year after year. um, all of the high schools are aware of it. And the kids are pouring in. Truly our new student orientation this year, I think we’ve got 3000 incoming first year students. It’s gonna be something. That is fantastic, and we’ve talked *** little bit about this, but. School counselors is *** big thing. How do we, before we talk about how you can help financially, how do you get the word out to, to students in high schools to make sure they know that this is available to our, our young people in our Church of Coast communities? So like, uh, Solaris was saying, um, you know, we do our best to reach out to the high schools, the guidance counselors and things like that, and so, um, the fact that we’re able. To, uh, reach that demographic within our schools that can spread to the students is really important on top of having open houses and, you know, having our website um available which is promise. IRSC.edu um head there for all information about the Promise program, um, but really that’s the best way to kinda get all the information you need and really put it in front of those students. Now let’s talk about helping out. You have to go to the community to ask for help to make this work. That’s our job. When you talk about incentives for, let’s say *** business owner first, what is the story that you want to tell? Yeah, we wanna tell them that, you know, investment and promise is the most direct investment you can make to the future of the Treasure Coast and to your own workforce and pipeline development because, you know, 26% of our Promise students go on to become. Uh, nurses, um, you know, phlebotomists and, and things like that to where, you know, we’re continuous in the richness and, um, uh, you know, solid leadership to, to the community, and so, um, that’s the best way we can, you know, position them. Is it an easy sell? You know, it’s an easy sell. I feel it is when I frame it like this, uh, your nurse who took care of you the last time you were in the hospital is an Indian River State College grad. The guy who changed her oil two weeks ago did our auto mechanic program through workforce education. So often we fail to recognize that so many of the people that make our lives great. Went to Indian River State College. That’s *** tribute to the college and to the Promise program. I agree. It really is. Um, do you, let’s mention the website if we could, Jamar. I’ll put this on you. Yeah, mention the website again so people can hear it and know where they can go for more information. Yep, it’s promise. IRS.edu. That’s the best place to get. All information on Promise Students if you want to learn more about become *** Promiseed student and you wanna come more about supporting the Promise program. Laura, you wanna give that website for us? I was gonna give our giving website that’s I’m all about that, the one thing I’d, I wanna preface or say before I give the website is. Often people think with philanthropy they have to make *** big gift, thousands of dollars, hundreds of dollars. We really, uh, in the Indian River State College Foundation are all about participation. Because if you get more participation, the word spreads, so we would love people to give $1.10 dollars. Hit us with *** website, OK, giving. IRSc.edu. All right, we got it. We got it done tomorrow. Thank you so much. So happy to be here, Todd, and thank you for what Indian River State College does and for the Promise program. Such *** good thing. Thank you both. On the record, we’ll be right back. I wanna say first thank you for making us part of your morning. As always, we encourage you to be part of our discussion each and every Sunday right here at 10:00 a.m. Until the next time, you can watch this morning’s On The Record program and every episode on our website, that’s WPBF.com and on our free WPBF 25 news app. We all hope you have *** wonderful Sunday. See you again next week.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
‘On the Record’: Indian River State College Promise Program provides free tuition, room, board for students<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\tUpdated: 10:30 AM EDT Jun 21, 2026\n\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tEditorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\tWPBF 25 goes “On the Record” with Indian River State College’s Vice President for Student Success, Elizabeth Gaskin, about the college’s Promise Program, which provides free tuition, room and board for students working to obtain their associate’s degree.Students must be high school graduates from either a public schools, home schools or private schools in Indian River, St. Lucie, Okeechobee and Martin counties.Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 NewsGet the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n WPBF 25 goes “On the Record” with Indian River State College’s Vice President for Student Success, Elizabeth Gaskin, about the college’s Promise Program, which provides free tuition, room and board for students working to obtain their associate’s degree.<\/p>\n Students must be high school graduates from either a public schools, home schools or private schools in Indian River, St. Lucie, Okeechobee and Martin counties.<\/p>\n Your neighborhood: Local coverage from WPBF 25 News<\/a><\/p>\n