Ben Navarro, a local philanthropist and entrepreneur, has vowed to provide high school graduates in Charleston with $10,000 a year to go towards their college tuition with his new Meeting Street Scholarship Fund.

Navarro is the founder and CEO of Sherman Financial Group. He also founded Meeting Street Schools, a non-profit organization that provides children with access to quality education in an attempt to close the opportunity gap.

The Meeting Street Scholarship Fund will help those individuals who need it most pay for college. Students who graduate from a high school in Charleston County, qualify for the LIFE lottery or Palmetto Fellows scholarship, as well as a federal Pell Grant will be eligible for the scholarship.

The only other requirement surrounds the college that students must attend. If students wish to receive the $10,000, they must attend either a public or private college that graduates at least half of its students within six years.

In a statement on the decision to create the Meeting Street Scholarship Fund, Navarro said, “We want more kids deciding they can go to college. College isn’t for everybody, but if you qualify for a LIFE scholarship, it probably is.”

There’s no doubt this scholarship will be instrumental in allowing more students in South Carolina the opportunity to attend college.