Busting the Barriers to Higher Education

by David Hunt  

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. 

Alston's parents separated when she was 10 and her mom suffered a back injury that made it impossible for her to continue working as a nurse. Money was always tight.

"It was hard – very hard," she says. "At Christmas I might get outfits, but not toys. I had to grow up pretty quickly. I had to understand that clothes are more important than toys."

Then, about 18 months ago, Alston's mom suffered a debilitating stroke during an operation to repair a disc in her back. When Alston and her older brother and sister visited their mom in the recovery room, they were taken by surprise.

"They didn't tell us what had happened," she says. "My mom looked at us like 'Who are you, why are you here?' Her physical features were fine but she didn't know her name, didn't know who her children were. It was like her whole mind went blank."

Alston was so overcome, she had to leave the room.

"I thought she was going to stay like this always. I thought about how she sounded before the stroke, the things she used to do. And I thought, she'll never do those things again."

Despite the uncertainty, Alston focused on her studies, worked two part-time jobs and joined the cheerleading squad during her senior year of high school. "I stayed busy so I wouldn't have to sit and think about it," she says.

By the time she graduated, she had the grades and the SAT scores to get into the college of her choice – but she also had a lot of factors to consider in making that choice. Although her mom is steadily recovering from the stroke, she still has medical issues.

"With my mom being sick and being the only child left at home with her, I didn't want to go too far," Alston says. "Financially, I didn't really know how things would work out. I knew grants and scholarships were out there so I started applying really early."

Alston's first choice was simple, if she could afford it. "I've always wanted to come to NC State because in my eyes it's the best school in North Carolina," she says. "I felt that way even before I found out that it was strong in science and math."

Her instincts, it turns out, were right on the money. The university's Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, in partnership with its Office of Advising Support, Information and Services, is implementing a new program that, despite little fanfare, is boldly eliminating the financial barrier to higher education for students like Alston.

The program, called Pack Promise, guarantees qualifying low-income students 100 percent of their financial aid requirements through a combination of scholarships, grants, federal work-study employment and need-based loans. Incoming freshmen students whose family income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level may be eligible. That includes, for example, a student from a family of four with an annual income of less than about $29,000, or the child of a single parent who earns about $19,200.

The total package comes to about $15,000 for in-state students and $27,000 for students from out of state.

Brittny Alston in a chemistry lab at NC State. Photos by David Hunt.

"Only a handful of universities offer similar types of awards," says Tony Patterson, associate director of the program. "This is the promise that fulfills NC State's mission."

Patterson is quick to point out that admission requirements haven't been loosened for Pack Promise students.

"The purpose is to give low-income students financial assistance," he says. "We're dealing with students who are admissible NC State students. They have great SAT scores, they just come from a low-income family. We want to remove the financial barrier for them."

Pack Promise does more than pay the bills. The program offers students a number of resources to help them succeed in NC State's rigorous academic environment, including additional academic support and advising, undergraduate research positions targeted to specific academic goals, peer mentoring, and academic coaching provided by trained staff, faculty and graduate students.

"We want to make sure they know what to do once they arrive on campus," Patterson says. "If you're from a middle-class background, you probably have a computer, your parents probably went to college, so you know what to do – how to make course selections, which extracurricular activities to join. But if you're the first person in your family to attend a university, which is the case for a high percentage of Pack Promise scholars, it's all new."

And, if it's your first time away from home, it's easy to feel isolated.

"At home, I'd be sitting around and then the phone would ring and it would be one of my friends wanting to go bowling," Alston says. "When I first got to NC State I wanted to go to the mall, but I didn't have anybody to go with."

That problem didn't last long. Alston moved into WISE Village, a residence hall for women in science and engineering, where she takes part in weekly social and educational activities. And she now works 10 hours a week in the university's multicultural center as a program assistant.

In fact, all Pack Promise students are encouraged to participate in a work-study program, by working as a research or program assistant or by volunteering with a community service project.  One of the unique features of NC State's Pack Promise program as compared with other universities' financial access programs is its emphasis on undergraduate research opportunities developed as work-study sites.

For the more than 300 students who qualified for the Pack Promise program this year, it's an unexpected but very welcome bridge to higher education.

"I don't know that the students really grasp how much it's really worth," Patterson says. "But their parents do."

Link: Pack Promise