Suchitoto Educational Programs
Invest in Suchitoto's Future
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The private non-profit university scholarship and loans programs of Suchitoto invite you to invest in the post-high school education of the youth of Suchitoto
The five high school programs in the municipality of Suchitoto are graduating about 200 students per year. The graduates, however, have very limited employment prospects. As a consequence many opt to immigrate to the United States hoping for a better future. The most favorable option for them in El Salvador is to continue their education. Of the graduating high school students in 2006 and 2007 about 40/year have entered higher educational institutions. Most of these were graduates of the INSU, the National Institute “Suchitoto”, among the top ten of over 450 public high schools in the nation. The remainder graduated from the four rural high schools in Suchitoto.
Many more youth have the desire and demonstrated academic ability to continue but can’t for economic reasons with university education, travel and living expenses costing from about $1200/yr at the national university up to about $2000 in private universities. Over the last decade a number of private university scholarship and loans programs, mostly externally funded, have been established to help overcome the economic hurdle. These, along with some individual donors, currently provide financial aid for about 70 youth. We would like to see that number at least double.
These programs working jointly have sponsored two university fairs-a first for El Salvador outside the capital-, arranged for career counseling for seniors in 2007 and visit each of the high schools on a regular bases to talk with seniors about university and post-high school options and the availability of financial aid.
There are currently at least 150 university students, which represents a large and as yet untapped pool of human capital for the municipality. The programs are seeking both to tap this pool and to encourage efforts in Suchitoto to open job possibilities for university graduates.