Recent Sweetwater High School graduate Nicole Abreu comes from a middle class family that theoretically could send her to college. But a costly and necessary home improvement project put the family into debt. Abreu, 18, also has psoriasis, an immune-mediated disease, and the costs associated with treating it place yet another financial burden on her and her family, she said.
Medication to treat her psoriasis costs about $2,000 per month while UV therapy was about $500 per week.
Though she is eligible for financial aid, Abreu said she won’t be receiving as much as some of her classmates at UC San Diego will, albeit they come from low-income households.
With tuition costing a minimum of $14,320 per year, the would-be biology major faces a heavy financial burden during her first year of college. But thanks to the SUHI Foundation, which provides financial assistance to Sweetwater High School students, attending the University of California campus will be less financially daunting.
Created 11 years ago to make attending college more affordable, the foundation awarded $250,000 to 19 seniors graduating from Sweetwater High School. Of the $250,000 only $90,000 was contributed directly to the foundation and the remaining $160,000 came from a partnership with the Morgan family, one of the founders of the foundation.
Of the recipients, 13 are going straight to a four-year university while six will attend community college with the goal of transferring to a university.
Scholarship award amounts for university-bound students range from $1,000 to $3,000 and most are renewable for four years to support students in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree.
Abreu, a recipient of a $1,200 SUHI Foundation scholarship, said it may not sound like a lot of money but every dollar helps.
“It’s really such a blessing to just be able to have this scholarship because I can take away the (financial) burden from my family members and they don’t have to work twice as hard,” she said.
“This scholarship not only helps my parents financially by not having to worry about having to pay for me and they can focus on other bills,” she said “But they also don’t have to worry too much about my healthcare … because they know they don’t have to allocate their money in other ways.”
Martha Juarez, executive director and a Sweetwater alumna, said with the increased costs of college it is difficult for students to find a means to support themselves while they attend school.
She said more than 90 percent of scholarship applicants reported they qualified for free and reduced lunch, a widely used metric in determining income status for students. For a family of four to receive free or reduced lunch, their annual income has to be around $45,000.
“There’s a tremendous financial need by these students,” Juarez said.
Abreu said she also is receiving $500 from the Quin Murphy Foundation and about $11,000 in financial aid from the university.
She added she may seek part-time work to help defray costs of her going to college.
