Santa Barbara City College is the winner of the College Promise video competition, the Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, announced Monday.

The competition included video submissions from community colleges across the nation. The judges had no specific criteria but based their votes on the inspirational quality of a video and the number of “likes” a video received on Heads Up America’s Instagram and Facebook pages.

In the video, SBCC showcased the benefits of their Promise program and the impact it has had on the students in its community.

Students like Arturo Ramirez and Leslie Marin, who were both interviewed in the video, both could not have attended college without the Promise scholarship.

On the verge of tears, Marin explained that her education is not to benefit her, but to benefit her parents and the rest of society.

To the tune of upbeat music, the SBCC Promise video points out that, by eliminating the worry of money, students can truly focus on what they want to accomplish.

Heads Up America, the sponsor of the competition, is a movement that is working towards free education at every community college in America and has created the “College Promise Campaign” to make those efforts a reality.

SBCC is the only community college to offer the Promise scholarship in Santa Barbara County, with Ventura City College and Cuesta College being the only neighboring community colleges with Promise programs. It is also among the 150 Promise programs in the nation to provide low-income students with a chance to attend two years of community college for free.

SBCC Promise began this fall and has since then accepted 730 local students. This scholarship ensures that students can attend SBCC free of charge for two uninterrupted years. According to the SBCC Promise website, SBCC Promise will cover “two years of all required fees, books, and supplies for any eligible student.”

The scholarship, however, is only available to students who complete their secondary education within the Santa Barbara Community College District. Students must apply within 12 months of graduating and must be in good academic standing while at SBCC.

The money used to fund this scholarship is comprised of private donations, grants and corporate gifts mostly made by people and businesses in the Santa Barbara community.

These donations are viewed as an investment in the future of the Santa Barbara County and are efforts toward eliminating restricted access to college due to a lack of money.

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