What entices a student to do well in school? The general response is typically, “to get into college”. However, as these students strive to reach these goals, there is nothing tangible when it comes to college acceptances. “Raise.me” aims to change that. This new tool provides money to students for everyday occurrences. These have a multitude of ranges, including getting an “A” or a “B” in a course, or doing numerous extracurricular activities.

This new concept is known as “Micro scholarships”. This means that a student can earn a certain amount of money for doing certain things. For example, if a student earns an “A” in an honors course, they earn a certain amount of money. If they earn an “A” in an academic course, they earn a certain amount of money. The rigor of the course and letter grade earned is all factors in the amount of money a student can earn. According to the website, raise.me “[creates] a more transparent and motivational process while enabling the students to see the guaranteed minimum amount of aid”. This proves that the direct motivation of earning cash for college now exists. This seems like a great plan that can motivate students to do well. A very limited amount of schools are on board, so how does Norristown Area High School fit into the equation?

Norristown Area High School is one of the very select few schools to get on board with this initiative. Norristown has been chosen by Penn State Abington to partner up with the program, where Norristown High School students can earn money to go to PSU Abington. Price ranges include earning $100-$1000 for earning an A in a course, earning $50-$600 for earning a B in a course, and earning $25-$250 for participating in a school club or sport. Norristown Area High School hopes to expand their partnerships when it comes to the money that students can put toward certain colleges.

In my personal experience with the website, there were a lot of options when it came to the money I was able to accumulate. For example, entering my current grades earned me a lot of money for Temple University. Unfortunately, these scholarship dollars will not correlate because Norristown only partners with Penn State Abington. However, with the potential for this expansion, this is definitely a possibility. The “Raise.me” website is a great, new concept that can motivate students to strive toward new goals by providing direct scholarship money for their efforts. Once this expands, the possibilities are endless.