Ximena Loza-Lopez was awarded a scholarship that will help with college cost.

Paying for college can be extremely expensive and quite stressful.  So for those fortunate students who earn scholarships, it can be a great relief—not only for their pocketbooks, but also because they will not be pressured to balance a job and school at the same time. Partial scholarships can also be helpful to students struggling to pay for college.
“I still will have to pay my room and board,” said senior Ximena Loza-Lopez.  “But I am not obligated to work.”
In February, Loza-Lopez was awarded a scholarship that will cover her tuition at Olivet College, where she will major in Chemistry and minor in French.  After she graduates, she hopes to get into a medical school in order to become a pediatric oncologist.
According to collegeboard.com, a website to help students figure out the cost of higher education, one year at a public university costs approximately $22,000 while the annual cost for a private college is about $26,000. That includes room and board as well as tuition.  All totaled, a student will pay $28,000 to $100,000 by the time they graduate.
“I borrowed thousands of dollars and it took me almost 20 years to pay it off,” said AP Government teacher Ben Billings.
Billings said students should take as many advanced placement classes and get as many scholarships as possible to help reduce college costs.
Scholarships sometimes come with strict requirements for achieving high academic performance.
“It’s less stressful to have a scholarship,” said senior Manuel Fores.  “But at the same time, I have to keep a 3.0 GPA in college, so I don’t have time to mess around.”
Students can also get scholarships based off their income, and whether or not their parents went to college.  Upward Bound is a program that provides four-year tuition paid scholarships at MSU.
“If you have income problems and really want to go to college to make yourself better, Upward Bound is a good program to get into to achieve that goal,” said senior Luis Perez.
Upward Bound comes with strict requirements also. Students must do community service, show progress reports every week and have a GPA of 3.2 or higher. Students interested in Upward Bound should talk to their counselor about signing up.  In order to be eligible, students must sign up in their freshman year and continue with the program all through high school.
“Upward Bound is a way to help kids who want to go to college, but can’t afford it,” said senior Layling Fong-Ramirez.

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