UW pledges a brighter tomorrow

TOPPENISH, Wash. -- Evelia Zuniga was impressed with the numbers.

She was sitting in the second row, listening to University of Washington President Mark Emmert deliver the lowdown.

College graduates, he told the crowd of about 235 sophomores and juniors gathered in Toppenish High School's Performing Arts Center, earn about
$1 million more than high school graduates over the course of lifetime.

Zuniga, a 16-year-old sophomore, smiled at that statistic. But when she heard college graduates are more likely to live longer than noncollege graduates, she exclaimed, "Wow!"

And when it came time for Q&A, she was the first one to ask the UW president a question: How much is tuition?

During the event, she asked a second -- What do you look for on an application? -- and a third -- How long did it take you to decide on a career path?

By the end, she was convinced: "I want to go to University of Washington."

She was already interested in UW, but after hearing Emmert and a couple of current UW students talk about the Husky Promise, she said, "I know I'll apply. I really feel inspired."

Emmert and an entourage of senior marketing, financial aid and admissions administrators traveled to Toppenish on Wednesday afternoon to encourage students to pursue higher education and promote a promise: "Your job as students is to study, get ready, get into the university. We'll help you with all the rest."

The visit was part of a statewide tour to publicize Husky Promise, a program that pledges full tuition for low- or lower-middle-income students who live in-state.

It's billed on the university's Web site as a "guarantee to Washington state students that we will not let financial challenges stand in the way of discovering their potential or achieving a UW degree."

And Emmert -- along with other senior administrators -- is traveling to select cities throughout the state to advertise and underscore that promise.

"It'll be one of his legacies," said David Doxtater, director of events for UW Marketing. "Mark was the first to go to college in his family. He tries to remove the barriers for going to college. ... That's really why we're here."

Emmert started the program after he came to the UW in 2004. It was officially launched in 2007.

The UW awards more than $240 million in financial aid to nearly half of its undergraduates each year. And through Husky Promise, eligible students get tuition covered through federal and state grants such as the Pell Grant or State Need Grant.

But if those monies don't equal the full cost of tuition, the university vows to make up the difference with university grants as well as scholarships provided by private donors.

"I'd love you all to be
Huskies, but it doesn't matter where you go," Emmert told the students. "College changes your life."

More than 7,000 students -- about 25 percent of UW's undergraduates -- are currently supported through Husky Promise.

And Emmert brought two of them -- Rob Pollard, 28, and Daniel Barajas, 22 -- to Toppenish. Both have been featured in recent television ads promoting the program.

Barajas, a 2005 Wahluke High School graduate whose parents run a bakery, La Popular Panaderia, in Mattawa, said when he applied to UW, "I didn't think I would get in. I got the acceptance letter, and I was, like, 'Yeah! Now, how am I going to pay for it?'"

These days, the construction management major is preparing to graduate and wants high schoolers to know, "School's not impossible."

In fact, he told students Wednesday, "School is honestly the coolest thing you could ever do."

And his message made an impression on Zuniga, who leaned over while he was talking to whisper: "I really like what he said about how they can take your car and they can take your home, but they can never take your education."

* Adriana Janovich can be reached at 509-577-7653 or ajanovich@yakimaherald.com.

Husky Promise

• The program applies to tuition and fees. Additional grants, scholarships, work study programs and loans are available to help with the other costs, such as books and room and board.

To be considered, eligible students should complete the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid -- available at www. fafsa.gov -- before Feb. 28.

•  For more information about financial aid programs at the University of Washington, visit www.uw.edu/students/osfa.