The Post editorial: The Denver Scholarship Foundation’s story has been one of increasing success.»

Eleven years ago an ambitious program was born to help low-income Denver Public Schools students pay for higher education. In that time, the story of the Denver Scholarship Foundation has been one of increasing success.

Thousands of low-income high school graduates have been able to subsidize educations. Students now have the chance to choose from 31 Colorado technical and community colleges and universities. In the last school year, 75 percent of the program’s recipients either remained enrolled in college or had graduated.

We mention it because the program’s longtime chief executive, Nate Easley, is moving on. It’s time to stop and reflect on what this program has meant, and why it works.

The Denver Scholarship Foundation was set up in 2006 after John Hickenlooper — then Denver’s mayor — made it a priority to give low-income students and students from families that hadn’t gone to college a fighting chance. Denver oilman Tim Marquez and his wife, Bernadette, donated $50 million to get things going.

DPS partnered with the fund to cover its administration, ensuring that future donations would go to students. In 2016, the scholarship fund helped more than 5,000 students go to college.

“I always joke that when I started, ROI meant Righteousness of Intent,” Easley tells us. “It was righteous work. It would help low-income kids. It was the right thing to do.”

But Easley said he quickly learned that the fund’s Return on Investment focus meant quantifiably helping students succeed. To that end, the public-private partnership keeps close track of its scholars, provides ongoing education and career counseling and requires that students report on progress each semester to keep the money coming. The result is the 75 percent persistence rate mentioned earlier.

“That’s the expectation, so no excuses,” Easley said. “I can honestly say that (75 percent) may be impressive when you look at it relative to how the urban school graduates are doing when they’re mostly Latino, African-American, low-income and first generation, but we’re going to do better than that. We’re going to absolutely do better than that. And that’s where the momentum is leading us.”

Fueling the momentum are a dozen centers the program operates for the district’s 21 high schools.

Incoming freshmen learn about the centers early on. Experts work with students and their families to demystify the complex challenges of applying for scholarships, as well as state and federal assistance.

The foundation likes to say it leverages its grants — which can be up to $4,000 a year for fouryear programs — by requiring applicants to also apply for other scholarships and assistance programs.

“The fund has been such an extraordinary source of opportunity and support for Denver’s students,” DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg tells us. “If you look back since the beginning of the fund, we have nearly doubled the number of students going to college.”

And while the money has been key, Boasberg says, the counseling and support from the program’s experts has proved to be “a lifeline to the future.”

Denver should be proud to have such a program, and Easley can certainly be proud to have led the fund to its current success. The members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are William Dean Singleton, chairman; Mac Tully, CEO and publisher; Chuck Plunkett, editor of the editorial pages; Megan Schrader, editorial writer; and Cohen Peart, opinion editor.