Three hundred and one students across the nation will have $5,000 dropped into their bank account this year. Whether they are in poverty or maintaining a middle class life, students can be eligible for the Dell Scholars Program – a scholarship program dedicated to helping those in need achieve their dreams. Two Plano students will be reaping the benefits of the program.
The Dell Scholars Program was founded in Austin, Texas by Michael and Susan Dell. According to their mission statement, the program aims to help students who are determined, but financially strained. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation has also donated $850 million to other non-profit organizations in urban areas in the United States, India and Africa.
The scholarship offers $20,000 to students over a span of four years – giving them $5,000 for each of their first four years of college. It also supplies them with resources and networking to aid them as they work for their degree. All applicants must have some financial need as determined by the Federal Pell Grant.
“The scholarship program is primarily a need-based scholarship rather than merit-based,” the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation’s spokesperson Steven Knuff said. “The 2.4 GPA requirement reflects the foundation’s mission to reach underserved students who are academically prepared and college ready, and to provide them with scholarship funds to achieve a college education.”
The Dell Scholars Program is based off of more than just high grades, and considers its applicants’ individuality, unique experiences in and out of the classroom, need for financial assistance, willingness to work hard and their dreams.
Senior Medinat Olugbola is one of two winners of the scholarship from Plano. She would like to go to Oklahoma University or the University of North Texas for her bachelor’s degree, and then attend medical school to become an anesthesiologist. Olugbola said it was her childhood dream to go to medical school. Her current hopes are to attend Baylor College of Medicine for graduate school.
“I do need the scholarship money to be able to go to college next year,” Olugbola said. “My mom is a nurse’s aide, so she does private care for elderly people. Two of her clients died of old age a couple of years ago, so I had to move from Dallas to Plano during my junior year for her new clients.”
Olugbola applied for the program last semester and found out she was a semifinalist in February. On April 10, she was awarded the scholarship.
“The application took time, but if you sat down and focused you could finish it in one day,” Olugbola said. “I wanted to make sure it was really detailed, so it took me a couple of weeks. I really don’t want to do loans.”
Senior Alex Garcia also won the Dell scholarship. He is planning on going to the University of North Texas for his first couple of years before transferring to Southern Methodist University. He would like to major in business. Both Garcia and Olugbola learned about the scholarship through AVID.
“It was one of the few scholarships that I applied for where I actually took a lot of time to do it,” Garcia said. “I finally finished it during winter break. Not as many people at Plano applied for it since it was harder to get.”
Both Garcia and Olugbola applied for other scholarships, and they agree the time and tediousness of applying led to a worthwhile outcome.
“It took a long time to apply, but it was definitely worth it,” Garcia said. “You wait awhile, and then you get this email that you’re in.”
The Dell Scholars Program aspires to do more than just offer scholarship funds.
“We hope to change the way our country approaches its support for low-income, high-risk students,” Knuff said. “The structure of the Dell Scholars Program proves that this type of retention program is successful in helping these students obtain a college degree. We believe that more money doesn’t necessarily mean better outcomes, which is why we put more emphasis on student retention and graduation than on the size of the financial reward.”
