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Washington’s College Bound Scholarship Program appears to be helping more students finish high school, according to new data from the Education Research & Data Center.

The center reports that more than  78 percent of low-income students enrolled in the scholarship program graduated on time in 2012,  compared with roughly 65 percent of all low-income students in the state.

In a news release, Brian Baird, chair of the Washington Student Achievement Council said:  “This is great news and strong evidence that young students who are offered a way to pursue their educational dreams will do better than those who believe the path to educational achievement is closed to them for financial reasons.”

The data covers  about 10,000 students, representing more than 17 percent of the class of 2012.

The College Bound program was established in 2007 to help low-income students with college costs.  Students sign up in middle school and if they maintain at least a C average, stay out of legal trouble and apply for college and financial aid, they can receive money for college costs that other aid or scholarships don’t cover.  College Bound also gives students up to $500 a year for books.

To date, nearly 134,000 students have submitted complete College Bound applications.

For more information on the program, see:  wsac.wa.gov.