Harper College pursues the best

Carolina Lopez didn't have to search very long to find colleges interested in her.

A Hoffman Estates High School graduate with excellent grades and a score of 30 on her ACT, Lopez received acceptance letters from a slew of good schools - Loyola University, the University of Minnesota and the University of Iowa among them.

Which one did Lopez choose to start at this fall? Harper College in Palatine.

Lopez is one of 50 recipients of this year's Distinguished Scholars award from Harper. The program provides full-tuition scholarships to students who have excelled in high school.

This year, interest in the program was higher than it's ever been, as more students in the suburbs and all over the country consider two-year community colleges in light of a down economy and escalating tuition at four-year schools.

"It's getting to the point where people are finding it cost-prohibitive to send their kids to a four-year school," Harper College President Robert Breuder said.

Breuder said the college launched the Distinguished Scholars program four or five years ago in an attempt to attract the best graduates from area high schools. To be eligible for the award, a student must have scored a minimum of 27 on the ACT and have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 out of 4 - accomplishments that would make many four-year schools sit up and take notice.

"I'll be perfectly frank here: Community colleges used to be looked at as places students went to only if they couldn't get in anywhere else," Breuder said. "We knew we had the teachers and programs that could challenge even the top students, so we thought this program might get some of them to take a look at us."

This year, all 50 recipients committed to Harper before the start of the school year, an increase of 9 percent over the number who committed last year.

Harper officials said an aggressive recruitment and promotional campaign, which the school had never done before, helped drive that increase. But they also cited the down economy and escalating tuition costs.

"I get the sense that families are generally more sensitive to the idea of borrowing for college," said Earl Dowling, Harper's director of scholarships and financial assistance.

Lopez said she's thrilled with her decision so far. She hopes to study adolescent psychology at Northwestern University or the University of Illinois at Chicago when she finishes at Harper.

"Just because you don't live on campus doesn't mean this doesn't feel like a college," Lopez said. "I really like the atmosphere here, and I will have gotten my gen-eds done without spending thousands of dollars."