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΢��Ȧ Senior Marissa North Reflects on How the Hope Scholarship Has Impacted Her:

“I come from a single-parent household and paid for my tuition through school loans, small scholarships and work study. Every semester, I always worried about how I was going to come up with the money for school.

“I first heard about the Hope Scholarship through my mom, who had read a news article about it. My mom and I were going to college at the same time. She actually went back to school to prove to me that I could do it. She earned her undergraduate degree in criminal justice at New England Tech and her graduate degree this May in homeland security and administrative justice at Salve Regina. I’m earning mine in studio art/painting and art history.

“When I heard I had received the Hope Scholarship, I was on the floor because – oh my God – my tuition is being waived. The fact that I was able to tell my mom, ‘I got it!’ was awesome.

“She was so proud of me and that my hard work had paid off. She was also relieved that the weight of the financial pressure was removed so I could be fully dedicated to my work.

“I encourage all eligible students to look into the Hope Scholarship. Just work hard, keep your nose to the grindstone and get the best grades you can. That’s what I did.

“Originally, I was thinking of not coming to ΢��Ȧ because I had this college fantasy of going away to school and living on my own, but coming here turned out to be the best thing for me. My high school art teacher said, ‘You don’t need to go away for your undergrad degree. Go to ΢��Ȧ. It’s local, it’s cheaper, you get a much better bang for your buck and all of the professors are heavily experienced.’ It was everything I needed to hear. The entire experience has been awesome.”

Learn more on the Hope Scholarship website.

Hear testimonials from other students: Jacqueline Carroll, Meghan LaFlamme, Olivia Lancellotta, Moses Nicolau, Ariel Polanco, Remi Salako, Tytain Sun.