TTU K-12 Graduates Have College Scholarship Options

By Leslie Cranford, Section Manager

Graduating seniors applying to colleges and universities know that higher education is not inexpensive. TTU K-12 offers competitive scholarship opportunities to its graduates to attend Texas Tech University, and there are also fast-track admission processes in place for Texas Tech University High School alumni.

"We have two types of competitive scholarships for our TTU K-12 graduates," said Jared Lay, director of Recruitment and International Partnerships for the Division of eLearning & Academic Partnerships. "We have one application for first-time college students, and we have one for current TTU or transfer students – TTU K-12 grads who are already attending here or at another university and wish to transfer to Texas Tech."

Lay's office is already accepting scholarship applications for 2021-2022 until the deadline June 15. Each year students must reapply for the competitive scholarship and meet all criteria to be awarded. Find the application.

Ashley Adams, a graduate assistant in Texas Tech's Department of Animal and Food Science, was a scholarship recipient, graduating from Texas Tech High School in 2014.

"I attended TTU K-12 for my senior year of high school," Adams said. "I knew that I wanted a program that was flexible and would allow me to do outside activities and travel that a traditional high school would not. The self-paced curriculum was perfect for me since it allowed me to finish my senior year in a faster time frame in order to be able to start college at the time that was best for me.

"The teachers that I had were some of the best. When taking classes online, it is always a worry if teachers will be accessible. This, in fact, is a strength at TTU K-12. Teachers were very easy to reach, responded back quickly and helped me through assignments. I wish I had found TTU K-12 sooner and would recommend their online program to anyone looking for an alternative to a traditional high school, or for students needing to take an additional class to meet graduation requirements at their own high school."

Crystal Green is another TTU K-12 alumna who earned the competitive scholarship, even though she graduated from the program more than 20 years ago.

"The TTU K-12 scholarship supported me through the ASL Interpreting Program and now I'm employed as an interpreter, working towards my certification," Green said.

Graduates of the Texas Tech University High School program also have fast-track admissions processes to the university to facilitate ease and speed of applying.

"We've been working with admissions a long time to set up a system advantageous to our high schoolers, who have already been in the Red Raider family," Lay said. "These high school graduates already know what Texas Tech is all about, and we're happy to make it easier for them to apply to and attend college here."

Lay says between the scholarship opportunities and the direct admissions process, high school graduates of TTU K-12 have ample reason to consider Texas Tech for their next educational step.