Education

Tuition Fully Covered, Newbies Prep for College

While other fall 2014 freshmen were spending their summers getting away from school, Kiara Ventura and Oscar Balbuena went against that norm and, instead, were studying weekdays at the colleges they will attend.

Through the Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), Ventura, an incoming New York University freshman, and Balbuena, who has been admitted to Fordham University, are getting prepped in math, English, writing, analytical thinking and other areas that are crucial to succeeding in college.

Alumni of NYU’s Urban Journalism Workshop, both plan to major in journalism. Both also will be the first in their families to attend a university in the United States.

“When I told my dad I was accepted into NYU, he cried,” Ventura said. “It really made my family proud and it makes me proud that I am able to pursue my dreams and improve.”

Through HEOP, both students also are getting enough financial aid to cover all their tuition, housing or other main college costs.

According to College Data and NYU’s official websites, the cost of a year’s education for full-time students living on campus is about $64,000. For full-time students living in Fordham housing, a year’s education is about $60,000.

From the 2002-03 through the 2012-13 academic years, tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities rose “an average of 5.2 percent per year beyond inflation,” according to the College Board.

Since 1969, HEOP has helped New York students who need financial aid and other kinds of assistance to fulfill their college dreams. HEOP has programs at 58 campuses throughout the state.

To apply, a student must fill out a HEOP application and then check off the HEOP box in the Common Application for college.

After submitting that application, HEOP administrators interview a select number of HEOP applicants. Students must show that they have a “high potential for successful collegiate experience … ” the HEOP website states.

The one-on-one counseling and instruction Balbuena is receiving during Fordham’s six-week-long HEOP program is “direct and personal. And the counselors help out on all different issues,” said Balbuena, whose second major will be psychology. “It is making up for the [economic] disadvantages in my life.”

The HEOP classes, aimed at helping to prepare students for their college courses, are “intensive,” Ventura said. “The workload at first was a lot and it wasn’t easy, not that I was expecting it to be. It is helping for future, harder workloads.”

Those heavier loads also aim to help students better manage their time and get used to doing more work, she added.

The coursework is “rigorous,” Balbuena said, of his HEOP classes.

He added that, “In the end, HEOP has given me an opportunity to go to a college I wouldn’t be able to attend due to financial reasons. But, now, I have a full ride to study and pursue my dreams.”

“It has been one of the biggest opportunities for me to go to a great college,” said Ventura, whose second major, as required for NYU journalism undergraduates, will be art history. “If you had asked me about the colleges I wanted to go during my sophomore year, NYU would have only been a dream.”