The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation is a scholarship program that inspires middle school students to plan for higher education. The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation awards the promise of a college scholarship—not to high school seniors—but to 8th grade students, just prior to their entrance into high school, at a critical point in their lives in terms of setting a path for future success. These scholarships provide the incentive for students to stay in high school and pursue a college career, and are, in most cases, their first introduction to the scholarship process. Once in high school many of the participants in the BBYF scholarship program go on to find more sources of scholarship funds. The Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation is the only organization in the metroplex that provides the promise of a college scholarship to students when they are in the 8th grade. The majority of scholarship programs are targeted at students in their junior or senior years, when it is most often too late for students who have not had college in their sights to change direction in order to obtain a college scholarship. BBYF targets more than 36,000 students in 22 public school districts and 3 charter schools across north Texas. Over the last 22 years the foundation has awarded 658 students $1,645,000 in $2,500 scholarships. As of fall 2013, 98% of the 1992-2013 BBYF scholarship winners have gone on to college after graduating from high school.