In 2006, Jessica Valerio saw her dreams of a college education fade when her father lost his job. Thanks to Hammond's College Bound scholarship program, the 20-year old is now a junior majoring in both accounting and finance at Purdue University Calumet.

"I absolutely didn't want a student loan because you have to pay those back," said the Clark High School graduate. "This scholarship pays for all my tuition, everything except books." Now Valerio dreams about working in corporate America after receiving her degree in the spring of 2010.

That's just what Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. had in mind when he established the College Bound Scholarship Program.

Passed unanimously by the Hammond City Council in early 2006, College Bound uses casino revenue to provide funding for tuition up to $8,200 per year at any Indiana accredited public or private college or university for qualified high school graduates. The scholarship program challenges students, whose parents or legal guardians own a home in Hammond, to dedicate themselves academically in preparation for college, said Tom Dabertin, a consultant who administers the program for the city.

Students must have either a 3.0 GPA in high school or a 2.5 GPA with a score of at least 1,000 on the SAT or 21 on the ACT.

During college, the scholarship recipients must maintain a 2.0 GPA.

Since 2006, 340 students have received the scholarship, Dabertin said. Valerio is among the 118 scholarship recipients attending Purdue Calumet. Scholarship recipients are enrolled in 27 college and universities throughout the state.

College Bound is working so well that it has also garnered the city major state and national recognition, Dabertin said.

In 2007, the U.S. Conference of Mayors presented McDermott with the City Livability Outstanding Achievement Award at the annual meeting in Los Angeles. Hammond became only the second city in Indiana to receive this award, which is given in the small cities category of municipalities with 30,000 to 100,000 residents.

McDermott said hearing the mayors of Los Angeles, Miami and other cities across the nation praise the College Bound program was a thrill.

"Most of the time, when there's talk about the government in Hammond, it's something bad," he said. "But the mayors of other cities were saying what a wonderful program this is and that other cities should adopt it. That's nice." This October, Hammond and the College Bound program also won the Indiana Cites and Towns Outstanding Achievement Award.

McDermott said he initiated the program to increase homeownership in the city, which is seen as an intrinsic component of a successful community.

Hammond has been losing population since the 1960s, said McDermott. In addition, less than two-thirds of the city's 32,000 homes are owner-occupied, compared to 90 percent in nearby towns. And many are abandoned.

"If we know that is happening, we need to do something to address that," McDermott said. "The College Bound Scholarship Program is our strategy." Dabertin said the program is "designed to encourage current homeowners to stay in Hammond and to bring back middle-class families into the city. There are no income requirements for this scholarship."

College Bound is also an excellent economic development tool, Dabertin said, because it focuses on a college-educated population. Many businesses, especially retailers, look at an area's demographics, and the number of college graduates is a factor considered, he said.

"Hammond lags behind the nation in a college-educated population," Dabertin said. "The national average is 27.4 percent. Hammond is at 13 percent." In the current economy, the scholarship program also acts as a safety net for families whose investments have dwindled or who are currently unemployed, Dabertin said.

College scholarships could total more than $32,000 per child for a four-year degree.

"We made a 10-year commitment to this program. That provides stability," McDermott said. "If you have an eighth-grader, you know you can move to Hammond and have a four-year college scholarship for your child."