Even when parents want their children to attend college, higher education is rarely discussed in households where there seems to be little hope of paying the ever-rising costs of tuition.
That’s why oilman Tim Marquez’s plan to help low-income Denver Public Schools graduates pay for college is so important. Marquez is commissioning a study to determine how he can best use his millions to fill the financial gaps for DPS students who want to attend college.
Marquez’s benevolence couldn’t have come at a better time. It could remove what’s now a substantial barrier for hundreds of Denver kids by allowing them to know – now – that college is within reach. Too often, and this is especially true in Denver’s growing Hispanic community, young people don’t even think about college until their senior year of high school. At that point, many find they didn’t even take the proper courses to get into college, or are so intimidated by the fiscal maze of loans and grants that they drop the idea entirely.
With Marquez’s help, DPS students will know that if they get the grades and the diploma, they can go to college. In other districts with similar programs, dropout rates have decreased dramatically.
Mayor John Hickenlooper also has plans to create a similar fund to give all DPS kids post-secondary options. Plus, starting in 2008, the College in Colorado scholarship program will provide scholarships to 575 low-income Colorado students for up to four years. That money also is designed to fill the gap between other financial aid and the cost of tuition. By the fourth year, some 2,300 students, who have to meet certain academic requirements, will receive aid under the program created by Gov. Bill Owens and the state legislature in 2004.
This is a critical time in education. Our economy and society are demanding more of students, yet far too many of them are falling short or dropping out. DPS last week renewed its call for volunteers to help in its schools and with the district’s new Denver Plan for reform. Superintendent Michael Bennet has been making this call since he was named to the post last summer. Turning around the urban district will take a community effort, he stresses.
Marquez, even if he operates independently of the district, has answered that call. But DPS also needs the help of those who don’t have millions but have something as valuable: energy and time.
