Four years after Sauk Valley Community College launched its earned-tuition program, the community is noticing its impact.

The Impact Program allows high school students who graduate in SVCC’s district – Whiteside, Lee, and parts of Bureau, Ogle, Henry and Carroll counties - to earn their tuition by volunteering at local organizations. It was developed over several years as a solution to area issues such as high poverty and low education rates, SVCC Vice President of Advancement Lori Cortez told Shaw Local.

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Sterling High School student Ruby Dingman opens cans of food Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2025, while volunteering as part of SVCC’s Impact program. A group of students helped prepare meals through the Path to the Future program organized through the Regional Office of Education. (Alex T. Paschal)

The program launched in 2021 for high school students in Fulton and Prophetstown. Now, in fall 2025, those students have started their freshmen year at SVCC.

“It’s just great to see them in our hallways. It’s like a culmination of all the work we’ve done,” Cortez said.

Of the total 18 students, about 14 are majoring in high demand fields like education, agriculture, manufacturing, welding or healthcare, which “are all occupations that we need locally,” Cortez said.

One student, Cortez said, told her they would not have gone to college without the Impact Program. Another said they probably wouldn’t have because they don’t have any parental support.

“To be able to offer that for our students is a really big deal,” Cortez said.

In the program, students must sign up by Sept. 1 of their freshman year of high school to earn 100% of their tuition and fees. If they sign up their sophomore year they’re eligible for 75% and 50% in their junior year.

To remain in the program, students must complete 25 hours of community service each year of high school and graduate, on time or early, from an in-district high school or home-school program.

Volunteer opportunities at 286 participating organizations are posted on the program’s website. In November, 87 events were posted.

The Impact Program “has been awesome for us,” Rachel Swihart, office manager at Open Door Community Church in Sterling, told Shaw Local.

“Neither our tech team or our kids’ ministry would function as smoothly without the Impact Program students. We have repeat students that have come for weeks at a time, year after year, and they’ll even train new Impact students who come in,” Swihart said.

In the past four years, Swihart said, they’ve developed relationships with several of the student volunteers and many have gotten involved with the church outside of the Impact Program.

One student started volunteering at the church through the program in 2021. The next year she got baptized and in 2025 she began running its kids’ Christmas program - not for Impact hours, just because she’s part of the church, Swihart said.

Another student started coming to services at the church after volunteering with Impact. For the next service she brought her sister, then her mom and next week they’re bringing their niece for the first time, Swihart said.

“I think the Impact Program has just been amazing for the community, and we love getting to both support it and be benefited by it,” Swihart said.

Cortez said members of the Rotary Club in Walnut told her they’ve raised more than ever at their fundraisers and are gaining membership.

Dixon’s Petunia Festival Board President Rob Bates told Shaw Local the festival’s set up, teardown and information booths are almost entirely done by Impact Program volunteers each year.

“We really lean on and need, particularly young people, to help us out to make it possible. If we had to pay folks to do all the set-up and tear-down work...we wouldn’t be able to provide as many events and services as part of our festival,” Bates said.

“The festival loves supporting youth programs in the area and being able to kind of participate in the students’ future education,” Bates said.

“It’s really been a fantastic partnership for us,” Bates said, adding that a lot of the Impact students enjoy getting to see the behind the scenes into what goes into the festival.

The Impact Program is entirely funded by donations. In 2025, its raised over $8 million in total and fully funded tuition for students in Polo, Milledgeville, Fulton and Prophetstown.

Each high school in the college’s district has a set goal for the amount of money needed to fund student tuition, calculated using SVCC’s enrollment numbers from the last five years and increasing that by 20% to account for the anticipated uptick in enrollment, Cortez said.

Those who donate can specify which school they’d like their money to go to and donations made by municipalities are automatically allocated toward its public school district, Cortez said.

Fulton and Prophetstown were the first ones to be fully funded after a Fulton woman donated $1 million. In Polo, a group of about 60 people came together to fund its $600,000 goal. Milledgeville also met its goal at $500,000.

The goals for Dixon, Sterling and Rock Falls are the highest, at $2 million each. So far, Dixon has raised $106,000, Sterling is at $96,000 and Rock Falls at $95,000. In the last two weeks, Cortez and another Impact Program representative visited all three city council meetings to give an update on their specific students’ progress.

Next is Bureau Valley, Amboy, Oregon and Newman at $600,000 each. Oregon made the most progress, raising $25,000; a close second is Bureau Valley at $22,000, then Amboy at $1,300 and Newman at $0.

Ashton Franklin Center has raised $112,500 of its needed $500,000 and Morrison raised $300,000 of $400,000. Ohio still needs its full goal of $250,000 along with Faith Christian, which needs $100,000.

The program is a last-dollar scholarship, meaning it funds the remaining amount of tuition not covered by other scholarship or financial aid if a student receives those. Either way, all Impact students will graduate from SVCC without student loans.

As of Nov. 25, the 1,887 registered students have completed a total of 98,269 volunteer hours at 288 participating local organizations since the program started, according to the Impact Program’s community dashboard.

For information, visit the Impact Program’s website or email Cortez at lori.a.cortez@svcc.edu.