Scholarship program helps first-generation students pay for college
As the sixth of nine children, Alexandra Jenkins said her family had quite the task of coming up with the money for her college education. But four years later, she graduated alongside 52 other students who were part of the inaugural class of the Gamecock Guarantee program, a scholarship that provides financial assistance to low-income, first-generation college students from South Carolina. The program, which began in the fall of 2008, offers students financial assistance as well as academic support for up to four years.
Althea Counts, associate director of TRIO programs, the office that works most closely with the students, said the scholarship is a step towards accessibility regardless of financial situation.
“The class that graduated this year were very high-achieving students,” she said. “You know that they have the academic potential, but what would keep them from staying would be the financial part of it, so it increases their chances of being successful in their career.”
The award, which is funded by institutional scholarship resources, is a guaranteed minimum of $2,500. That amount is usually combined with federal need-based funding, like the Pell Grant, and other merit-based scholarships to fully cover tuition and technology fees. Because many Gamecock Guarantee students receive enough money from these other scholarships to cover tuition and fees, the $2,500 usually goes towards other expenses associated with going to college, such as books and housing, allowing students to cut down on, if not eliminate, the need for loans.
“These students have graduated with very low debt, so that has been a really big deal for us ... and for students who are coming in with low income and really relying on financial aid to go to school,” Counts said. “To finish school without debt is a really big deal.”
Jenkins, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, said the award not only allowed her to attend the university, but eased her post-graduation fears as well. “After Gamecock Guarantee I didn’t have to take out hardly any loans,” Jenkins said. “I had one loan all four years, so that felt good.”
All Gamecock Guarantee recipients are a part of either the Honors College, the Capstone Scholar program or the Opportunity Scholar Program, a support system that provides an extended orientation, smaller class sizes, cultural awareness events and workshops related to students’ academic and professional lives.
The extended orientation and small class sizes were some of the most important benefits for Karneisha Wolfe, another Gamecock Guarantee graduate of 2012.
“Since we met each other before we even started taking classes, we built a family relationship,” she said. “When we took classes with anyone else from OSP, we would study together and ... just help each other out.”
Wolfe, who graduated with a degree in accounting, also participated in the OSP tutoring and mentoring program, which she said allowed her to help younger students while building interpersonal skills for her career.
“In any job, but especially in the business world, you have to work with different types of people, and I think working with younger college students prepared me for that,” she said.
Wolfe has received full scholarships to attend Wake Forest University to earn her master’s degree in accounting. Jenkins has already gotten a teaching job in Columbia at A.C. Moore Elementary School and will attend USC for her master’s in education for language and literacy by next May.
Counts said after working closely with the OSP and Gamecock Guarantee students and watching the inaugural class graduate, she only hopes for growth of the program through additional internal funding and private donations.
“We are only able to serve a fraction of the students who really are eligible, so I would like to see the funding for Gamecock Guarantee grow,” Counts said. “If that grows, then it means we can serve more students.”