THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510110001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
A student without hope is a student lost.
For seven years, the homegrown nonprofit Tidewater Scholarship Foundation has brought hope to thousands of students in the Norfolk and Portsmouth high schools.
The hope is that they'll be able to afford college.
Actually, hope is too weak a word. If the students, mostly low-income, do their part, the foundation, through its ACCESS program, guarantees money will be found for the students to continue their educations.
ACCESS works closely with the Norfolk and Portsmouth school systems, and Portsmouth Superintendent Richard D. Trumble calls the program ``the best thing since sliced bread.''
ACCESS helps students obtain money for college in two ways.
(1) The program has a 30-hour-a-week financial adviser in each of the eight high schools in Norfolk and Portsmouth. From 1989 through last school year, those advisers helped 7,643 students apply for federal, state and college financial aid in the form of grants and low-interest loans repayable after graduation. Not all students reported the amount of financial aid they received, but the total for the 5,162 students who did was more than $27 million.
(2) Ninth-graders and their parents or guardians are asked to sign an agreement that the students will achieve C+ grade averages, including at least C's in college-preparation courses; will have 90 percent attendance records; will abstain from involvement in drugs; will remain students in good standing; and will personally contribute through their own and their families' resources. Graduating seniors who fulfill the agreement are guaranteed ``Last Dollar Awards'' totaling up to $1,000 a year for unmet college needs. Many students can meet all their college needs through grants and loans, plus summer jobs and parents' help, but to date 957 students have received Last Dollar Awards averaging $963, or $922,026 altogether. In addition, students who fulfill the agreement have their admissions and testing fees either paid or waived.
In other words, financial obstacles are removed. The student's destiny is in the student's hands. Last fall, 1,769 ninth-graders signed the agreement. That was half of all ninth-graders in Norfolk and Portsmouth. Judging from past years, half of the students who signed will fulfill the agreement. ACCESS just received a grant to start a peer-mentoring program in four of the high schools this winter in hopes a higher percentage of students will keep the agreement.
Seventy percent of the students who are helped come from families with annual incomes less than $20,000 a year. Middle-class students also are helped in obtaining financial aid. Nationwide, one study showed, fewer than 10 percent of families can afford the entire cost of college unaided.
Tidewater Scholarship Foundation was incorporated in 1988 by two Norfolk businessmen: Joshua P. Darden Jr., who built a family car business into one of the largest dealerships in the country; and Frank Batten, chairman of the board of Landmark Communications, which owns, among many other enterprises, this newspaper.
Until this past year, the foundation's operating budget, now $500,000 a year, was derived mainly from a handful of corporations and individuals.
A drive has begun to get smaller contributions - any amount - from individuals and small businesses. Contributions are tax-deductible. Contributions from businesses of $100 or more are eligible for state tax credits of up to 50 percent through the state Neighborhood Assistance Program.
Gerald L. Cooper, the foundation's executive director, said the dream is to serve all South Hampton Roads cities someday. Next to be added, he said, would be Suffolk, if funds to expand the program are raised.
Hopelessness is epidemic in many poor neighborhoods. ACCESS shows students a way to succeed. It might be a hard way, but it's a way. The money will be there - guaranteed - if they do their part.
For more information about ACCESS or to pledge a contribution, call 441-2867. by CNB