Scholarships help bridge the gap for the Black community in Colorado: "Affording college is very much impossible"

Going to college is pricey. As those costs push more students to rethink higher education, scholarships are filling a critical gap. In fact, those funds are life-changing.

Lana Hassan is proof of that. "I'm really excited, yeah, I'm really excited," she said.

Hassan has a lot to be excited about. She's a recent East High School graduate and incoming freshman at the University of Southern California. She's getting $10,000 a year to help fund her studies. Her education was all made possible, she says, by the Sachs Foundation.

"The Sachs Foundation is one of the oldest education foundations here in Colorado. It was started in 1931," said Pamela Roberts-Mora, Chief Operations Officer at Sachs Foundation. "The foundation started with Mr. Henry Sachs supporting two of the first students to go to Colorado College to identify as Black. From there, we've been supporting thousands of scholars across our country, both undergraduate and graduate students alike."

As a first-generation student from Sudan, Hassan says that support has been monumental. "My family is low-income so affording college here in the states was very much impossible. That scholarship bridges that gap that was available for me." 

Roberts-Mora adds that Sachs helps bridge the gap not only monetarily, but in providing wraparound services. "We provide emergency assistance, so for our first-gen students we support them with flying them back home. In addition to that, food insecurity is a real struggle for college students. We provide groceries, making sure they have a care package sent to them if they need that."

Sachs received a record number of applications this year. "Our largest applicant pool," said Roberts-Mora. "We had 330 that we had to narrow down to 65. It was a really hard decision."

As one of those chosen, Hassan says she's ready for her next season in life. "I'm really excited for the challenges because I feel like the challenges in the past have shaped my character."

While the Sachs Foundation is Colorado-based, it also helps provide funds for students nationwide. Learn more and apply online.