SANDUSKY, Ohio â€" If some 200 Akron seventh graders stick with LeBron James' mentorship program for the next six years, a full scholarship to attend the University of Akron awaits them.
Actually, the opportunity to go to college for free extends to any of the approximately 1,000 at-risk children in Akron Public Schools who are currently involved with the LeBron James Family Foundation and the hundreds more who may join.
On Thursday, James announced a partnership between his foundation, the university, and JPMorgan Chase in which any child under James' mentorship who graduates from Akron Public Schools and meets yet-to-be-determined testing, attendance, and community-service criteria would receive receive a free ride to the University of Akron.
The scholarships, paid for by the university, will cover tuition and Akron's general services fee -- currently worth about $9,500 a year.
University of Akron President Scott Scarborough broke the news, with James on hand, at Cedar Point, where James' foundation held a "reunion" for thousands of mostly poor children, their parents, and friends from Akron.
The announcement was met by some cheers, gasps of surprise, and a measure of silence likely brought on by confusion over what just happened.
"We're giving you guys free scholarships," James said on stage, following the announcement. "Do you guys know how much money (that's worth)? This means so much to me, so much to these kids."Â
The announcement took place in Cedar Point's parking lot, preceded by a musical salute from the university's marching band. A fireworks display, its effect weakened a little by the late afternoon sun, nevertheless lit the sky and thundered across the roller-coaster park.
"It means so much because, as a kid growing up in the inner city and a lot of African-American kids, you don't really think past high school," James later told reporters. "You don't really know your future. You hear high school all the time, and you graduate high school and then you never think past that because either it's not possible or your family's not financially stable to even be able to support a kid going to college."
James likened himself to the children who will be eligible for these scholarships -- a poor child of a single parent who didn't have the money to go to college. But the 6-8, 250-pound superstar had the NBA and millions of dollars waiting for him.
Five years ago, the James foundation switched its focus to mentoring and tutoring poor, at-risk youths who are in danger of failing out of school because of problems learning, with attendance, or in their homes. This partnership with the university could play a key role in helping James reach his goal of raising the city's graduation rate.
The university, meanwhile, has long partnered with the James foundation and the scholarships are a new milestone for their relationship. But Akron is also in line to get a big dose of positive attention through a coming marketing push from James. The university has been hampered by weeks of negativity from a reported $60 million budget shortfall that triggered layoffs and program cuts, including its men's baseball team.
The first class eligible for a University of Akron scholarship will graduate in the spring of 2021, and, according to the agreement, the scholarships will extend initially to the Akron Public Schools graduating class of 2029.
The university will immediately rename its education department the LeBron James Family Foundation College of Education â€" likely the first time a college of education has been renamed after an athlete, according to officials from Akron and James' foundation.
Also, for at least the next five years, James will star in annual commercial campaigns marketing the university.
"No one liked having to reset their finances the way we've had to," Scarborough told the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "It's very nice to be able to redirect attention from that to something as positive as this new partnership with LeBron James Family Foundation. LeBron's a hometown hero, he represents excellence, we're proud to have him associated with university.
"What LeBron's doing is going to have a large impact on these kids' lives," Scarborough said. "It's an easy decision for us, to take this opportunity to work with a hometown hero."
The Akron commercials featuring James will begin airing soon, Scarborough said.
With six years before the first scholarship goes out, Scarborough said the university may try to raise money to pay for the scholarships instead of using Akron's $60 million general scholarship fund.
Additionally, Akron's education professors will monitor the James' foundation students to make sure they are on track to graduate and meet the extra requirements to qualify for the scholarships.
The data those professors will track will be collected through a program created by JPMorgan Chase. In Chase's part of the agreement, the banking giant with some 22,000 employees in Ohio -- including 5,500 technologists â€" will devise a system to collect and measure the various criteria students need to meet to qualify for the scholarships.
Like the University of Akron, Chase has long partnered with James and his foundation on other endeavors. The bank recently published a James biography on its website that highlights Chase's partnership with James' foundation.
The bank pledged 4,000 man hours for the project.
"We're enablers here," said James Geuther, regional president for Chase. "We're going to place the specific, objective data in the hands of the people who can really help change these kids' lives."
The James foundation and Akron Public School have tried â€" with some difficulty â€" to track students in the program and count how many children remain each year after first enrolling as third graders.
According to data from Akron Public Schools in May, 84 percent, or about 200 of 240 children, who enrolled five years ago are still in the program and entering seventh grade.
For the incoming sixth-grade class, the retention rate is just 78 percent (or 158 out of an original class of 203). The incoming fifth-grade class, 80 percent (164 out of 205) and fourth-grade, 93 percent (159 out of 172).
There are approximately 300 third graders entering the program this year, easily the largest.
For context, Akron Public Schools' high-school graduation rate for the 2013-14 school year was 78.4 percent, below the state average. Meanwhile, 86.4 percent of the urban school district's population receives free or reduced lunches, a reminder of the challenge poverty presents in public education.
Children who sign up with James in the third grade enter the "Wheels for Education" program â€" born out of James' now-defunct bike-a-thon. The program shifts to a more adolescent-focused "Akron I Promise Network" when the child enters the sixth grade.
James and his foundation use numerous tools to keep the children and their parents engaged, from enticing them with gifts from James' corporate partners (like Nike and Samsung), to outings at places like Cedar Point and Akron football games, to personal Facebook messages from James.
But when the children advance into high school, and begin to ponder what happens after they graduate, the promise of a free college education could serve as strong motivation for them to remain committed to the James foundation.
"Having that big carrot is very important, but this (scholarship) program does much more than provide the carrot," Scarborough told NEOMG. "I've had opportunity to visit with some of these kids, and they may be at-risk, but the kids I've visited with have great aspirations for their lives."
