Why elite students are choosing CSUSB - CSUSB Magazine ...

That first year, six students acceptedthe scholarship. Fifteenmore freshmen camethe next year, and the programquickly spiraled higher.By fall of 2008, the number ofincoming freshmen reached46, accounting for nearly 20percent of the San BernardinoCounty high school seniorswho qualified for the award.They joined some 100 otherPresident’s Scholars on campuswho were enrolled fromprevious years.“I never assumed,” Karnigsays, “that the program wouldlaunch as quickly as it has, andI never anticipated that we’dso soon have roughly 150 ofthe top 1 percent scholars onour campus simultaneously,accounting for nearly 1 percentof our entire undergraduateenrollment.”M o r e s u r p r i s e d t h a nKarnig about the rapid risein PAES students, perhaps,was a young A.B. Miller High“I felt I could get the same education here as at Berkeley.But I was able to stay close to home, I’m getting a good educationand I’m not paying as much because of my scholarship.”— Nkechiyere EbokaSchool senior, who learnedthat a $5,000-a-year scholarshipawaited her if she choseCSUSB. Rachel Wolfinbarger,who had alreadyconcludedthat theFashion Instituteof Designand Merchandisingin LosAngeles wasfar too steep afinancial climbat $100,000 toearn a bachelor’s,was indisbelief. Shewas still moreamazed whenshe learnedthat the fullride scholarshipincludedenough extramoney to helppay for books.“ I t d i d n’ tseem real,”says Wolfinbarger,whois now a senior business majorat CSUSB. While the newsalso stunned her mother, itcouldn’t have been more welcome.“We’re not poor. We’renot wealthy. We’re middleclass,” says Wolfinbarger.“Pick and save” had beenthe plan. Pick a communitycollege and save, save, saveto afford transferring to afour-year university. But thePAES money changed everything,and maybe its arrivalshouldn’t have surprisedWolfinbarger and her family.Her mother tells the storythat when Rachel was 10, shetold her mother that somedayshe would get a scholarship.Her mother laughed andsaid, “O.K., honey,” and leftit at that.PAES students have to maintaina 3.5 GPA or higher to receivethe scholarship for fouryears — a potential $20,000.With close to 150 President’sScholars on campus today —each receiving $5,000 — thechallenge is not so much ingetting these high performingstudents to Cal State SanBernardino, but in raisingthe nearly $750,000 it takesto cover the scholarshipseach year. The program isfunded solely through philanthropicsupport.“A prestigious programlike PAES isn’t one that youordinarily think of as needingthese private funds,” saysFrancoise Aylmer, associatevice president for developmentat CSUSB. “Prospectivedonors certainly want to helpNkechiyere Eboka has worked as a volunteer at St.Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino.(Photo by Lori Krueger)csusb magazine | 11