Students again set financial aid mark

Nearly a quarter-billion dollars in college scholarships is being offered to Clark County School District’s graduating class of 2012, breaking the record set one year ago, Superintendent Dwight Jones announced Friday.

Graduating seniors have accumulated about $240 million in scholarships to help pay tuition everywhere from the College of Southern Nevada to Harvard University. That amounts to a 13 percent increase over the $213.1 million awarded in 2011, and a 27 percent jump over the $188.7 million of 2010.

"We’re trying to send a message to students who are coming up," said Jones, whose motto has been making students "ready by exit" but noted that it doesn’t matter much if students are accepted to college but can’t pay for it. "I think they can set the bar even higher."

LynnAnn Lescenski, counselor at Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy on Vegas Drive east of Rancho Drive, said the district’s main counseling office has encouraged counselors at the 52 high schools to focus on seeking out scholarships for students. All of her time during the spring is spent filling out scholarship and school applications with seniors. And for good reason, she said.

"Hundreds of scholarships are unclaimed every year because students just didn’t apply," she said. "I can’t stress how important it is to apply, apply, apply."

The money’s out there, offered by not only national groups but a surprising number of local groups, Lescenski said. And everyone can win a scholarship, not just honor students or the poor, she said. Just ask a school counselor for help.

Despite the new record for scholarship dollars, though, many seniors didn’t want to do the work, she said.

"It’s like pulling teeth, sometimes," she said. "I’ll have a kid who’s a slam dunk for a scholarship, but they won’t fill out the form. Or I’ll fill it out and tell them to sign it, but still."

Taikye Wright-Brown owes much to his Cheyenne High School counselor, who he said was blunt with him from the start. She told him that his middle-class family couldn’t afford Harvard, which cost $28,148 in tuition and fees for his freshman year. They worked together and earned a full-ride from the school because of his work and family’s income, which fell below the required level.

"I would hate to be paying off loans for the rest of my life," said Wright-Brown, who is keen on studying mechanical engineering. He also received "substantial" awards from Stanford University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Michigan for the same reason, he said. His advice: On top of scholarships, research schools of interest to see what grants they offer.

Wright-Brown is just one of 15,000 seniors graduating from the country’s fifth-largest school district, meaning the record-setting scholarship total averages about $16,000 per student.

Isa Khoury of Foothill High School in Henderson earned $1.5 million in scholarships and will attend Harvard. He racked up so much by applying to several universities but obviously won’t be using all the money.

"The class of 2013 has a lot to match. I don’t think they can do it," Wright-Brown said.

Nathan Keith, who will be a Legacy High School senior, took on the challenge for his class. "We will match that and beat it," he said. He is doing his part, already scouring for scholarships this summer.

"You can see we’ve set the stage for a friendly competition," said Jones, who also announced a scholarship in the name of his father, Dewayne Jones.

He was a proponent of rural students attending college, which is why the scholarship awarded $500 each to three seniors of Sandy Valley Junior/Senior High School in 2012. The school has about 180 students.

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.