Enriching education
Texarkana College Honors College Scholarship available now
Photo by Kristina Colburn
Applications for the TC Honors College Scholarship are available now. Students can get paid tuition for up to two years and admission to the honors college.
March 23, 2023
As the 2023 school year begins to wrap up, many seniors look towards college and what awaits them once they vacate the halls of Texas High. For some, that means going far off. For others, that means staying rooted in Texarkana. For most, that means facing crippling student loans.
Almost all students planning to enter college are already expecting the price that comes with it, whether it’s a big private college or a small community college. However, for some, the burden can be lessened with the help of scholarships.
Texarkana Community College offers the Honors College Scholarship in which students can receive up to two years or 60 semester credit hours as well as admission into their honors college.
“If you qualify for this scholarship, even if you just come for a year, you’re going to save tens of 1000s of dollars versus going to a university,” Coordinator of Communication and Engagement Madeleine Russell said. “And I just don’t think a lot of high school students realize that you can qualify and get that opportunity here.”
Within the Honors College Scholarship are the Presidential and Deans scholarships. Both have essentially the same requirements—a 3.25 GPA and ranked in the top 15% of their class—with the latter covering unmet tuition and fees as opposed to the two years or 60 semester credit hours.
No matter what scholarship you receive, this aid can drastically help you while on your path to get a degree, whether you choose to stay at TC or move on once the scholarship runs out.
“You should really apply even if it’s not your first choice or anything,” TC freshman Jenifer Cruz said. “It’s a good backup plan to have because if you have that, you have a good stepping stone you can have so if you get something better you can go for it.”
Cruz is a recent Texas High graduate who was encouraged to apply for the scholarship by REACH teacher Christie Page. After getting accepted, she decided to attend TC in order to gain her associates degree for health sciences before moving away to pursue nursing.
“If I get my associates that’s basically a lot of basic courses for any other health or medical wise,” Cruz said. “I know I still need some other credits, but at least this knocks off two years of your bachelor’s. And if it’s good, if it gets paid for, then it’s just free. You can have it and you can always transfer, but it’s a good way to save money.”
Despite the benefits of this path and the logic behind it, the negative associations surrounding community colleges causes many to not even consider attending.
“I think it’s more of the stigma that community colleges have,” Cruz said. “It’s more of a stigma that’s looked down upon by other people, but I think it’s just a good opportunity to have. Here [the professors] just talk to you, they explain to you and since it’s a smaller class size, you can actually have more interaction with them.”
TC is a completely different experience compared to public and private schools, but everything has its ups and downs.
“I think there’s just this little small con that you don’t get to experience college life or you’re when you’re a freshman,” Cruz said, “but you can always experience that later.”
Whether you’re ready to embrace college life or just don’t know what you want to do yet, TC’s Honors College Scholarship is a viable option for many. No matter what you choose, nothing is set in stone, but there’s no reason to not apply.
“Sometimes life doesn’t go as planned,” Cruz said. “So even if you think it’s the end of your world, you still have this to help you and push you up.”
