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An incentive for students once overlooked

The hurdles to a college degree are higher for teenagers whose parents never went beyond high school, which makes Florida's newest scholarship one of its most poignant.

The First-Generation Matching Grant created by the Legislature last spring is aimed at students whose families have no experience in higher education and may have little financial means. The grant is one reason Vanessa Marin, whose single mother is a Hillsborough school custodian, is a student this year at the University of South Florida. "All my family is really proud of me, especially my mom," Marin told a reporter. "She didn't know if I would ever get here."

Marin was joined by 4,845 other first-generation students who received aid at Florida universities and community colleges this fall. Thanks to a new $10-million gift from the Helios Education Foundation - money that will be used to match state grants - they will be only the first class of first-generation students to benefit. Helios chief executive Vince Roig and president Paul Luna were the first in their families to attend college.

The hurdles are genuine. First-generation students are often poor, must work to help pay college expenses, bring little or no college credit from high school, and are likely to need remedial courses. For those first-generation students who do enter higher education, a U.S. Department of Education report last year determined that only one in four get a bachelor's degree. That's one-third the rate of students whose parents have college degrees.

Florida has been comparatively generous in recent years with merit-based scholarships, including $346-million this year for Bright Futures. But it has tended to shortchange some students who need help the most. For those whose families are new to higher education, the First-Generation Grants offer tangible encouragement.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 21:33:07]