Lincoln Northeasters talk college financing

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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON

What better way to spend third period than talking about FAFSA forms and such?

Some Lincoln Northeast students were kind enough to indulge the Journal Star on Wednesday and tell their stories of applying to college.

One was from Malaysia. One was Vietnamese. One was from a family of no high school graduates. One was a straight-A student who plays baseball.

All so different in background. All are going to college.

Rosa Chau comes from the family of no high school graduates.

That just served as motivation.

“I knew from the get-go that I was going to college,” he says.

He filled out a FAFSA form and found out he’s got access to a Pell Grant. He’s not just going to graduate high school. He’s going to college, too. Graphic design is his calling.

Minh Nguyen derived inspiration to attend college from her mom, who had been a teacher in Vietnam, but such a job was not obtainable when she came here.

Nguyen is going to Southeast Community College next fall to get the education that could give her the job she desires.

“My mom is always sitting there telling me, ‘You don’t want to have to work the same way I did, living check to check,’” Nguyen says.

Other Northeast students like Xinrou Tan and Jessica Lloyd used their academic prowess to reap financial rewards for college.

Lloyd will attend the University of Minnesota, and the school will pay for her out-of-state tuition.

Tan, who is from Malaysia and just 17 years old, will attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and be on a full ride as part of the J.D. Edwards program.

Despite their successes, both admit there were times they lamented the whole college-choosing process.

“I heard of people who had applied to eight or nine schools and I thought it took a lot of time to just fill out two,” Lloyd said.

One of those people who applied to nine schools sat two seats away from her during the discussion — classmate Trent Svehla.

Actually, it might’ve been 10, he says. That’s how he spent December, filling out applications.

As the baseball player in the group, trying to pick a school that fit him both academically and athletically has been as difficult as hitting the curveball.

He hasn’t yet picked a school, but you don’t want to get something like this wrong.

“I would love to get it over with, just to be free of the burden,” he said.

Tan probably summed it up best for everyone in the room.

“Everything is hectic in the application process,” she said. “There’s nothing easy about it.”

 — Brian Christopherson