Maryland’s class of 2013 was offered more than $1 billion in scholarship funding to continue their education, according to the results of a new Maryland State Department of Education survey.  Students received $1.19 billion in scholarship offers, beating last year’s record total of $966 million.

“Maryland’s outstanding high school graduates are highly sought after by our nation’s colleges and universities, as this data proves,” said State Superintendent of Schools Lillian M. Lowery.  “The cost of a higher education continues to grow, making this increase in scholarship assistance that much more important to our graduates and their parents.”

The survey found that 18,798 graduates received offers out of a total public high school graduating class of 54,571, or 34 percent.  The scholarships included more than 300 National Merit Finalists and more than 400 scholarship offers from Ivy League institutions. 

Maryland high school graduates often have a leg up on the students who complete their education in other states.  For example, Maryland’s public school system has ranked number one for the past five years by Education Week, the nation’s leading education publication.  In addition, the State has ranked number one in the nation for seven years running in the percentage of graduates receiving college mastery scores (3-5) on the Advanced Placement (AP) exams.  Late last year, a study by Harvard and Stanford researchers published in the journal Education Next found that Maryland schools registered the greatest educational improvement of any state in the nation over the past 20 years.