When I was a sophomore in high school, I told my mother that I planned to attend Stanford. Her answer was something like: "What is a Stanford?" As an immigrant, she had little knowledge of the U.S. higher education system beyond our neighborhood (the community college where she had attended as a displaced homemaker and still works). Of course, she knew of the state university downtown -- her community college often served as a feeder school for those seeking a bachelor's, and probably she had heard of Harvard. Who hadn't? I explained that Stanford was like Harvard--only better! I think it was listed as the number one school in the U.S./World Report college-ranking issue that year. "Plus," I said, "it has palm trees!" My mom thought it sounded fascinating, but said: "We can't afford that." It was true. My mom was raising three kids on two salaries (a day job at the college and a night-job at a department store). The two put together still didn't get us above the poverty line. To make a little extra money, she did janitorial services for a local company off the books. "Don't worry," I said. "I'll figure it out." Luckily, (and of course through diligence and hard work), I did figure it out. I won close to two dozen scholarships for college--outside scholarships from The Oregonian, Georgia Pacific, the Portland Trailblazers, the Deltas, (thanks guys) etc. as well as university-given scholarships--and that's what made the real difference. Stanford believed in my potential and gave me the best package of several high-ranking schools. The yearly tuition at that time was about $5000 greater than my mother's take-home pay. I did work-study jobs during the year, and had to work during the summers to pay for books (so expensive as lit major), but I graduated with only $4000 worth of debt (most of that was a result of my overseas experience in Salamanca). When I registered each term, I could readily hand the clerk a "Paid in Full" statement each time without ever writing a check.
I am so glad to hear that Stanford has decided to institute a tuition-free policy for families that earn less than $100,000 and also has eliminated the cost of room-and-board for those earning less than $60,000/year. I hope that if there is some young man or woman out there who has the same dream that I did, this announcement will buoy them and propel them to reach for the best--no matter what their financial situation is. Today, I am very proud of my school. Go Stanford!
