​Getting into a prestigious four-year college or university is a dream for many community college students. But, even for those who do qualify to attend, paying hefty tuition and fees often remove them as an option.

For nearly 12 years, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (JKCF)—through its Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships—has been making sure that tuition and fees are not the barrier for a select group of two-year college students. In 2002, the foundation helped 32 high-achieving community college students with limited financial resources transfer to a four-year institution, providing enough funds to cover most expenses on their way to earning a bachelor’s degree.

Since then, the program has nearly doubled. In 2011, 60 students were selected from nearly 850 scholarship applicants. Each student had to be nominated by an appointed JKCF faculty representative at their college. The selected scholars each receive up to $30,000 per year for up to three years upon transferring to a top-tier, four-year college or university.

Though more groups are becoming engaged in the dialogue on transfer students, JKCF is one of the first organizations to offer scholarships for this unique group of students.

“We pride ourselves in helping to move the conversation along in regards to transfer students, and the value society can gain in educating all its citizens,” said Barbara Schmertz, a program manager at JKCF.

Partnering with institutions

Getting students in the door is only part of JKCF’s work. The foundation has invested more than $8.5 million in the Community College Transfer Initiative (CCTI) in which 11 top-ranked four-year colleges receive grants to develop targeted programs that reach transfer students.

In Massachusetts, Amherst College hosts open houses and provides mentors and student life liaisons to community college transfer students. Cornell University (New York) offers orientations, child-care assistance and stipends that allow transfer students to take unpaid internships. Participation in CCTI has allowed the University of California–Berkeley to expand its Transfer Alliance Program, which offers one-on-one advising, peer mentoring and education on career pathways.

CCTI is “changing the discourse,” said Schmertz, and it’s having a positive impact on transfer students.

It’s the scholarships, though, that have drawn students to JKCF.

Last April, Schmertz had the enviable task of calling a number of 2011 scholarship recipients to give them the good news that they’d been chosen. The experience was “heartwarming,” said Schmertz. Many students told her that the scholarship will change their lives.

Less debt, more education

When Gabriel Dietz got the call in 2010, he said he was in disbelief.

“It seemed far-fetched that I would be able to win it,” said Dietz, who had worked as a circus performer and artist before enrolling at Butte College in California.

Dietz hadn’t planned on transferring to a top-teir four-year college, but when he became an Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, paying the steep tuition and fees was no longer a barrier.

Dietz just finished his second semester at the University of California–Berkeley, where he’s studying classical languages. Without the scholarship, Dietz couldn’t have gone to Berkeley without taking on a lot of student loans.  When he graduates, he’ll have minimal debt—the kind of debt he can “get up out of fairly easily.”

“It opens up possibilities for these students,” Schmertz said. “They can make decisions not solely based on finances.”

Freedom to choose

Chandeerah Davis’ options were limited before she received the JKCF scholarship. Davis worked full-time as a preschool teacher and took a full course load at Nassau Community College (New York) on the weekends. She knew she’d continue on to get her bachelor’s degree, but, like Dietz, planned on attending a local four-year college.

Her plans changed when she found out she’d won an Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.

“I thought, the sky is literally the limit now,” Davis said.

She applied to several Ivy League colleges and was accepted to Harvard and Columbia, among others. She chose Cornell University, where she’s been leading student organizations and volunteering while studying human development.

The scholarship “made it easy to concentrate on school,” Davis said, since she doesn’t have to work while attending Cornell. She even received a $3,000 stipend last summer to take an unpaid internship.

Davis, who will graduate in May, plans on continuing her education at graduate school. She’d like to earn a master’s degree of divinity.

Beyond the bachelor’s degree

Dietz, too, wants to continue on to graduate school. He and Davis both plan on applying for JKCF to help pay for that cost as scholars are eligible to apply for $50,000 graduate scholarships. This is significant because many scholars once believed they couldn’t even afford to get a bachelor’s degree, according to Schmertz.

“Graduate school was just a concept,” Schmertz said.

Davis and Dietz likely won’t stop there, either. Both have dreams of getting a doctorate.