Pueblo County has set aside around $750,000 in college scholarships for high school seniors, and all of that funding came from marijuana excise taxes.

The county teamed up with the Pueblo Hispanic Education Foundation to start awarding the scholarships to high school students this year, although next year is when the full funds will be available.

The county also applied for the 2015-16 Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative matching scholarship grant, which was approved for $226,597.

Wednesday, as a sort of pilot program, 25 students were awarded $2,000 scholarships — $1,000 from the excise tax funds and a matched $1,000 from the Colorado opportunity grant — which they can use at Colorado State University-Pueblo or Pueblo Community College.

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Claire Cleveland ~ Denver Post ~