More than 2,000 financially needy students who live in two of the poorest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., will be eligible to earn scholarships for college, thanks to a $122-million donation, announced today, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The money is going to the D.C. College Success Foundation and the D.C. College Access Program. It will be used to help double the number of students in the high-school Class of 2010 who complete college within five years and to triple the number for the Class of 2014.

Students will be selected for the scholarships as high-school juniors based on their commitment to education, but not necessarily on grades or standardized-test scores. Students in the program will receive summertime college-prep experience and will be assigned to a college-prep adviser. —Erin Strout