June 16, 2008 • Word On The Street [1] Email [2] Print [3]

When I was in high school I wasn't the best student and no one took the time to talk to me about college. I worked for 20 years until someone took me by the hand and showed me how to apply for financial aid, and I got my BA at age 46.

We give scholarships to first generation students on limited income. I don't like "low income" so I say "limited income." We give them to 8th grade students, then it's held in trust until they graduate high school and then they get the scholarship of $1,000 towards college. Their graduation rate was far above the graduation rate of their peers. We had a grant but it expired. We're helping our young people learn to do scholarship research.

--Marie Hiykel, AIM Institute [4] Educational Grants Manager, Omaha, Nebraska