The Learn to Dream scholarship program announced this week should generate widespread enthusiasm and appreciation in the community.

The lower rungs on the ladder to success now are within reach of more young Lincoln residents.

The partners in the program — Southeast Community College, Union Bank and Nelnet — have teamed up to offer a year’s paid tuition at Southeast Community College to graduates of Lincoln public and private high schools who qualify for the federal free and reduced-lunch program.

Learn to Dream is part of a burgeoning trend. A coalition of wealthy Omaha residents recently announced a Building Bright Futures program that would help low-income students from kindergarten through college.

One of the most publicized programs of this type is Kalamazoo Promise. Funded by an anonymous donor, the program says it will pay full tuition to any Michigan college for students who attend Kalamazoo public schools from kindergarten through graduation.

Study after study has shown that education is key to higher income. Last month, the College Board released an “Education Pays” report on 2005 U.S. Census Bureau data showing that a typical high school grad earns about $31,500 a year. A typical worker with an associate’s degree from a community college earns $40,600, about 29 percent more. A worker with a four-year college degree earns about $50,900, or 62 percent more than someone with a high school degree.

Over a 40-year career that difference in earning power would amount in today’s dollars to about $364,000 for a community college degree and $776,000 for a four-year college degree. Other studies have placed the value of a college degree at more than $1 million.

The Learn to Dream program, estimated to cost $3 million over a five-year period, also will produce benefits to the community at large. Educated workers pay more in taxes and are less likely to be on welfare. The College Board also reports that educated workers are more likely to volunteer, vote and live healthy lifestyles. “In other words, participation in postsecondary education improves the quality of civil society,” the board said.

Although Learn to Dream offers paid tuition for only one year, that’s enough to give students from a poor background a good start and very probably gain enough momentum to continue under their own power. Sometimes the first step is the hardest. Once in the college environment, students can learn the ropes and develop confidence.

Americans have long believed that hard work and playing by the rules should give young people a chance to get ahead. Learn to Dream help gives that tradition a firmer basis in reality.