An Abraham Lincoln High School graduate who made his fortune in oil has offered to use his personal wealth to ensure Denver Public Schools graduates can afford to continue their education.
In recent weeks, Tim Marquez has worked with a handful of Denver nonprofit organizations to commission a study to determine how much such an endeavor would cost and how similar programs have worked in other cities. If the study pans out, he’s willing to spend his millions, he says.
Marquez, 47, chief executive of Venoco Inc., said he would like to help future graduates who need financial help. He hopes to begin putting his words into action as early as next spring.
“We want to try to find the kids who could go who may not think of going. … The kids who could get into Stanford themselves don’t need our help,” Marquez said. “I’d like to believe I can make a little bit of difference.”
Marquez owns Venoco, an oil company valued at roughly $800 million. Last year, he donated $10 million to the Colorado School of Mines.
He declined to say exactly how much of his money he would spend on DPS graduates, but based on programs in Kala mazoo, Mich., and Santa Barbara, Calif., experts suggest it could cost $10 million to $30 million a year.
The Denver program would continue in perpetuity, or “at least until I’m dead,” said Mar quez with a smile.
In a broad study to be completed this summer, researchers will look at the number of DPS graduates, their socioeconomic status and how many might go to college if they didn’t have to worry about money.
“We will look at how the money would be best used,” said Tony Lewis, executive director of the Donnell Kay Foundation, which is funding the study. “We’ll try to get our hands around what that universe of kids is.”
In 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, 3,205 kids graduated from Denver’s high schools. About 63 percent of all DPS students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a federal indicator of poverty.
Education researchers will also look at best-practices models in cities elsewhere, so “we don’t reinvent the wheel” of mistakes, Marquez said.
Eventually, he envisions creating a foundation that would give students a “one-stop shop” resource center about post-graduation options. Marquez said he didn’t know whether he would set that up independently or work with the district.
While details have yet to be worked out between Marquez and DPS, Superintendent Michael Bennet said a gift like this would be “a great thing for the Denver Public Schools.”
“It would be incredible for us to be able to say that the financial barrier has been lifted for kids to go to college,” said Bennet, who has spoken with Marquez several times.
Marquez hopes to push kids to use untapped private and public scholarships first, and his money would be “the last dollar.”
But if the study shows the plan “is not feasible or won’t have an impact,” he’ll look at other options. “We haven’t done our homework yet,” he said.
Nationally, about $100 million out of $3 billion in private scholarship money goes untapped every year, according to a survey of donors completed by the Institute for Higher Education Policy.
In Colorado, the Colorado Opportunity Fund has so far committed only 87 percent of its $290 million to students attending college. The pot of money comes from the state’s general fund, and up to $2,400 a year can be given to any Colorado resident taking a certain number of college classes.
Marquez’s effort folds into Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s larger plan to give all DPS kids postsecondary options.
The mayor hopes to announce within the next 12 months “more specifics in terms of the money for the plan,” he said, and “exactly how we implement something like this.”
Hickenlooper said Thursday that he has a “number of other benefactors” committed to helping make this work. He said it would be important if, “every student in every grade believed that money wouldn’t be the reason they didn’t go to college.”
Elsewhere, plans like this have shown promise.
In Kalamazoo, a group of anonymous donors has given about $3 million to send every graduate – no matter his or her financial need – to an in-state college or vocational school.
Even in this first year, the dropout rate has fallen by 90 percent – from 265 students last year to about 21 this year, said Bob Jorth, executive administrator of the Kalamazoo Promise.
“I think all the students are universally excited about it,” Jorth said.
In Santa Barbara, a scholarship program gives hundreds of donors a say in how they want their money to be spent.
This year, $7 million will be given to roughly 1,900 students for college. The money comes from 350 different scholarships that students in the area can apply for; some are needs-based and some merit-based, said Billie Maunz, executive director of the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.
“It changes their life,” Maunz said, “when they receive a scholarship from someone who doesn’t know them. It’s quite powerful.”
Staff writer Allison Sherry can be reached at 303-820-1377 or asherry@denverpost.com.
