BATON ROUGE - High-achieving students at Louisiana's community colleges will be eligible for scholarships to move to Southern University's campuses in New Orleans and Baton Rouge for further coursework.

The Pathway Scholarship transfer agreement was announced by Gov. John Bel Edwards and college system leaders.

The program will guarantee admission to Southern and provide up to $1,500 annually for certain students who complete an associate's degree at Louisiana Community and Technical College System campuses.

Students have to be members of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society to be eligible.

Officials said they hope the program will encourage students to continue their education after finishing a community college degree.

The money will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, paid by Southern University. The amount to be set aside for the scholarships hasn't been determined.