County Grads Impress With $38.8 Million in Scholarships

Berkeley County students earned an impressive $38.8 million in college scholarships in the 2011-2012 school year. That's up from nearly $30 million earned by students in 2010-2011.

In Columbia, the state Department of Education was celebrating an even bigger number Friday: more than $1 billion in scholarships for grads across the state. It's the first time S.C. students broke the billion-dollar-mark since the state began tracking the information.

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This year's scholarship total was $1,063,112,048. That number represents two-year scholarship values for technical colleges and two-year schools, and four-year totals for four-year colleges and universities. 

Statewide scholarship totals for the previous five years:

• $684 million (2007)
• $767 million (2008)
• $869 million (2009
• $917 million (2010)
• $966 million (2011)