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Scholarships Help Students Reach Goals
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Esteban said, "Merit-based and need-based scholarships are both vitally important for CSU, Chico. As a residential campus, we compete with many of the state's best schools for students. The top five universities to which our incoming students are also admitted are San Diego State; Sonoma State; UC, Santa Barbara; Cal Poly, SLO; and UC, Davis. Merit-based aid, such as our successful President's Scholars Program, is needed to continue to attract some of California's highest achieving students to CSU, Chico. Enrollment is up. The economy is strong. Student and alumni satisfaction with Chico remains very high. At the heart of our institutional mission is the concept of student-centered learning. It's time for us to put students at the heart of our fundraising mission."
College wasn't necessarily in Duran's plans. She thinks how she got to Chico was "really weird." Her journey to economic stability required a combination of skill, determination, encouragement, and luck. As a child she followed the crops with her parents, working beside them in the fields. Looking back, she is amazed at the work she did, although, she said, "It wasn't difficult at the time. It was just helping my family." What was difficult was changing schools-nine in all-and often being too tired to concentrate in class. As her father learned English, he was able to get a job that didn't require a lot of moving. Her mother encouraged her to get an education, as did the principal of Chico High School and former counselors at Hamilton High School. Then in her senior year of high school, a counselor made the mistake of telling Duran that she wouldn't make it at Chico State. Determined to prove the counselor wrong, and encouraged by friends already in college, Duran enrolled in the Summer Bridge program, was successful, and there's been no stopping her since. Encouragement, determination, and ability don't pay the bills. Duran approached the financial hurdles to an education with the same kind of resourcefulness that got her to college. Over the course of her college career, she received numerous scholarships, from Applied Materials, Hewlett Packard (HP), Pacific Telesis, PG&E, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). She worked, often at two jobs. Her summers were spent as a paid intern for Kaiser Permanente and later, for HP. During all this, she kept up her grades and received awards as the Chico State Outstanding Latina Student for 1991-92, the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) Outstanding Junior for 1992-93, and the MEP Outstanding Senior for 1993-94. The scholarships were important to Duran, not only for the money, but because "someone believes you're going to be able to do it," she said, appreciating that "people put their faith in me." A believer in giving back, Duran now coordinates an SHPE scholarship. Each year she sends out an e-mail to the other SHPE members at HP describing students needing financial support and soliciting funds. Last year they were able to give two $2,500 scholarships. "I like giving scholarships more than I ever liked receiving them," said Duran. "I like anything that gives someone a chance."
She joined Upward Bound in high school, spending six weeks every summer as a student on the Chico State campus. She now recalls those summers with a grin as some of the best times ever, treasuring the opportunities she had to meet people from different backgrounds and to get to know the college campus. During her senior year of high school, she was called into the office along with several classmates. None of the students knew why and feared they may have been in trouble for some unintended offense. Oltjenbruns was relieved and surprised to learn that she had been nominated for a Central Valley High School Scholarship Foundation scholarship. After a short interview, she returned to class. She was pleased when she received the award, which, spread over a four-year period, gave her about $625 a semester. That scholarship plus grants, work-study, and a Leo Barleux Memorial Scholarship of $750 meant she has been able to pursue her dreams. "Financial aid and scholarships are what is getting me through college," said Oltjenbruns.
Changes in the federal financial aid regulations in 1993-94 made it more difficult for students to obtain grants. Since that time there has been an increase in the amount of loan debt that students accumulate during their college years. In 1997-98, the average amount of money borrowed by students ranged from $3,358 to $4,085, depending on the kind of loan. Loans are on the rise as other sources of financial aid stay relatively stable and the cost of education rises. [See Increased Costs Squeeze Families.] Dave Ferguson, director of Upward Bound, watched the financial picture dim for students. Where once they received financial aid packages that would see them through their college years, Upward Bound students are now scrambling to find sufficient funding. More students are working, some at two or three jobs. While students are only allowed to work twenty hours on campus, many work additional hours off campus. "What ends up happening is that it prolongs their education. They don't have the flexibility to get classes absolutely when they need them," said Ferguson. "At one time, our kids never saw a loan. They would never get a package with a loan until maybe their senior year. That was fifteen years ago," said Ferguson, who sees scholarships as supplements to or possible replacements for the loan and family contribution part of a financial aid package. "Plus, we believe there's educational value in the process of receiving scholarships." For the university, added scholarships can also increase the flexibility of financial aid by freeing up that amount of financial aid dollars for another non-scholarship student.
"Going to Chico was an excellent experience and has paid off tremendously," said Freeman-Hall. She is happy in her job and in having "all the contacts and the friends who are now colleagues. It was definitely worth the work." The scholarships had a tremendous impact. "I'm not sure how I would have done it without the scholarships," said Freeman-Hall.
Many majors offer honors programs. In the psychology honors program, for example, students work for two semesters with a professor-mentor on a specific research project. In May the students hold a mini-conference at which they present their research and findings. Students who meet certain academic achievement criteria may also join the honors societies on campus, such as Phi Eta Sigma for freshmen, Phi Kappa Phi for juniors and seniors, and a variety of societies associated with particular disciplines. For twenty-eight lucky honors students, honors houses provides on-campus thematic living.
What if you could design a scholarship? If Ferguson were able to design a scholarship, he would include financial need, community service, leadership, and academic achievement. Corporations are looking for people with leadership skills. In a time when there is a national emphasis on the importance of volunteerism, community service is an important activity. Freeman-Hall would design a scholarship for students, especially women, interested in technical fields. She would also like to see general scholarships that emphasize a "student's enthusiasm for school and education." She would base these "not so much on GPA as on eagerness and hard work." If you want to be part of this opportunity to enhance Chico State and its educational possibilities, write Ed Masterson, Office of University Development, California State University, Chico, Chico, CA 95929-0155 Barbara Alderson, University Publications
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hico State is trying to address the financial needs of its students through a new, three-year scholarship campaign, officially announced by President Manuel A. Esteban at his faculty and staff convocation in August 1998. Last year $2.2 million was donated for scholarships; a $10 million goal has been set for the campaign, which will have its formal kick-off in the fall; and the volunteer chairs for the campaign will be chosen later this spring. 
hen we asked Rebecca Freeman-Hall, a California State University, Chico alumna working for Hewlett Packard, where she'd be without a college education, she said, "I don't even want to think about it." Her colleague and fellow alumna, Christina Duran, concurred and then groaned thinking about how her life would have been limited without a college education. "I'd probably be dependent on somebody else and working at the local yogurt shop," she said. She wouldn't have the confidence she has today, nor would she be able to give back to the community as she does now.
he financial burden of getting through school for everyone became heavier over the last decade, a time of declining federal and state support for education, a time of increased political pressure to privatize what were once viewed as public services, such as education. Over the last decade Chico State fees have more than doubled. For the 1997-1998 school year, students paid $2,044 in fees. Add in the cost of food, housing, books, and other living expenses, and a year at Chico State costs $10,600, up from the $7,426 it cost at the beginning of the decade. 
reeman-Hall, one of five valedictorians in her high school graduating class, is the first member of her family to go to college. She chose Chico State over Cal Poly and UC, San Diego because she'd heard it had a good computer science program and because Chico was the only school to offer her financial aid. Over the years, she received scholarships from Chevron, HP, Pacific Telesis, and PG&E. Like Duran, she spent her summers working for HP, which helped finance college, especially graduate school, and provided her with experience leading to her current job. She did get some grants, used a lot of work-study, and eventually did have to take out loans, graduating with a $3,700 debt.