Busting the Barriers to Higher Education

School comes easily for Brittny Alston, a first-year chemistry student at North Carolina State University. Her love of mathematics helped her achieve a high grade point average at Northern Vance High School in Henderson, where she graduated last year near the top of her class, and fueled her dreams of pursuing a career in medical research.

"I love numbers," she says. "There are just so many things you can do with them. They are so multi-talented. You can add and subtract them, move them around, put them with words. I know that sounds kind of geeky."

Geeky or not, Alston is just the kind of prospective student most universities are looking for: smart and enthusiastic with clear goals and a solid academic background. But Alston knew enough math to realize that her plans for college simply didn't pencil out.