TCC’s Achieve Queries Pour In

By APRIL MARCISZEWSKI

Enrollment of local students fresh out of high school is up, but the scholarship program deadline has passed.

About 50 parents a day call Tim Fernandez at Tulsa Community College to find out if their children can still sign up for the new Tulsa Achieves scholarship.

He tells them it is too late for the high school class of 2007. The deadline was April 30, and after that, TCC budgeted money for the program based on the number of applicants.

TCC has been “extremely lenient,” accepting students who applied for financial aid by the deadline or who said they applied for Tulsa Achieves in time, even if their applications cannot be found, Fernandez said.

More than 1,600 students signed up for the scholarship, and as of mid-July, 1,234 of them had enrolled in classes. At least 23 percent more Tulsa County students fresh out of high school are enrolling at TCC compared with when TCC did not offer the scholarship.

The students trying to apply for Tulsa Achieves now have realized their first-choice colleges are not working out for the fall, and they are turning to TCC, Fernandez said. Those students still can apply for other financial aid at any TCC campus or can work out payment plans in the bursar’s office at any campus.

“We certainly want them to come to TCC,” Fernandez said.

TCC unveiled Tulsa Achieves on March 14. Graduating high- school seniors had 48 days to apply for the scholarship that makes their freshman and sophomore years of college free. TCC officials knew the time frame was short, but they wanted to make the scholarship available to the class of 2007, Fernandez said.

This school year, Fernandez plans to give presentations at many high schools and promote the program through TCC’s marketing and student recruitment departments.

High-school students apply for Tulsa Achieves in the spring semester of their senior year, and under the program, they must start taking TCC classes the following fall semester.

The class of 2008 can sign up for the program beginning in January, which is when students can begin turning in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, online at www.tulsaworld.com/fafsa.

Students who qualify have lived in Tulsa County at least one year and graduate from a public, private or home school with at least a 2.0 grade point average. Tulsa Achieves students must complete 40 hours of community service a year.

David Lawless, the TCC honors program coordinator, told Tulsa Achieves students at an orientation this month that he had heard current TCC students and professors complaining that the Tulsa Achieves students had not done enough to deserve the scholarship.

He encouraged the scholarship students to prove “you are worth the money that the taxpayers are investing in you.”

TCC is paying for the program out of its budget, which includes state appropriations and local property taxes. TCC President Tom McKeon has said the scholarship is a way to say “thank you” to Tulsa County taxpayers who have supported the college.

April Marciszewski 581-8475

april.marciszewski@tulsaworld.com

Tulsa Achieves

www.tulsaworld.com/achieves

Director Tim Fernandez

595-8481

For students who missed out

TCC financial aid offices:

Metro Campus: 595-7155

Northeast Campus: 595-8420

Southeast Campus: 595-7700

West Campus: 595-8029

(c) 2007 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.