The Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education is awarding grants to 27 high schools in north Georgia at an event Tuesday.

Local schools to be honored include Jackson County High School, Banks County High School, Habersham Central High School, White County High School and Wood’s Mill High School in Gainesville.

The schools receiving grants will use the center’s model strategies to assist and encourage students to continue their education by enrolling and completing a post-secondary program.

“We are excited that so many superintendents, school principals, faculties and staff were willing to step up to the challenge of ensuring that their students are ready for college with real post-secondary choices after high school graduation,” center director Shirley Davis said in a news release.

“The economic consequences for failure to continue education after high school are severe. Eighty percent of the jobs available to the students who graduate in 2012 will require at least two years of post-secondary education. We want every student to have college as a viable option.”