Tony Tran was all set to report to his dorm at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when his mother told him she had been diagnosed with cancer.
“So I couldn’t in good faith go,” Tran says, explaining that he didn’t want to leave his family at a time of crisis.
“I also wanted to help my parents save money in general,” Tran says. “If I went to UIUC and the day came when my family needed money for something like paying for my mother’s treatment or sending my younger siblings to private school or college, and they didn’t have it because of me, it would be a burden that I would have to take upon myself to relieve.”
The average annual cost of attendance at UIUC is just over $18,000, federal data show.
Fortunately, Tran didn’t have to bypass college altogether.
Thanks to the Chicago STAR Scholars program, Tran was able to enroll in Harry S. Truman College — one of several schools within the City Colleges of Chicago system — for free.
The Chicago STAR Scholars program enables students who graduate from Chicago Public Schools with a 3.0 GPA or better to pursue an associate degree at no cost at the City Colleges of Chicago. There are currently more than 3,000 STAR Scholars, a city college official says.
Usually a decision to go to community college is the death knell for any four-year college plans. For instance, while roughly four out of five entering community college students indicate they want to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher, only about one out of three actually transfer to a four-year institution within six years, according to the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University.
