Pittsburgh Promise removes attendance requirement for Class of 2022, citing pandemic

The attendance requirement for Pittsburgh students to receive scholarship funds from the Pittsburgh Promise will be lifted specifically for the class of 2022, with program officials citing the “significant challenges” the class has experienced throughout the covid-19 pandemic.

“We have concluded that class of 2022 students will have attendance issues due to covid-19 exposures and alternating between remote and in-person schooling,” Executive Director Saleem Ghubril said in a statement

Students have historically had to have a 90% attendance rate to qualify for a Promise scholarship, which can be used at any college, university, trade or technical school in Pennsylvania.

The program made similar moves in 2021, announcing that attendance and GPA requirements for the Class of 2021. Ghubril noted at the time that early numbers from 2020, the first year of the pandemic, showed a 25% decline in freshman enrollment among Promise Scholars.

High schools have grappled with how to continue classes despite the virus that thrives in crowded conditions like classrooms. Schools were forced to pivot swiftly to remote learning. Even as vaccines became widely available and students returned to in-person learning, schools dealt with cases and staffing shortages.

Students will still have to meet the GPA, residency and enrollment requirements for a Promise scholarship, officials said, and other policies will remain in place. Students from the class of 2022 can use their four-year scholarships anytime during the five years following their high school graduation.

Undergraduate enrollment nationwide has dropped by 6.6% since fall 2019, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center – about 1.2 million students. The declines are across all types of colleges and universities, according to the New York Times, but two-year community colleges were hardest hit.

“We know that post-secondary enrollment has declined both nationally and locally due to the challenges of the pandemic,” Ghubril said. “We hope to mitigate declines in enrollment for the class of 2022 to the extent that we can.”