Chicago nonprofit helping students, parents attend college for free through scholarship program
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When it comes to college, your first thought might be the giant price tag. However, one organization is erasing that fear for hundreds of Chicago families.
When the nonprofit Hope Chicago says family, they mean family because their scholarship program gives both the student and their parent the chance to go college for free.
Lee Fountain is wrapping up his computer science degree at Olive-Harvey College while his son Malichai is just getting into his second semester at Southern Illinois Carbondale University
"I think it's fun. We're kind of all the same schedule, so it's nice to be like, Mali, you know, midterms coming up, you know, pay attention, study hard, and he be like you too dad," Lee said.
And both of their educations are free.
"Most people would be like, no, it's a catch. or things like this don't usually fall into your lap," Lee said.
There's no catch, but this didn't exactly fall into their laps.
"This was just a byproduct of his hard work, and his success," Lee said.
Malachi's high school GPA earned him the Hope Chicago Scholarship his senior year of high school - giving him access to four free years of college
"Going to college is getting more and more expensive every year. So just having that burden taken off made choosing what to pursue a lot easier," Malichai said.
"I'm very proud. He worked hard through high school without even knowing that this was the thing," Lee said.
The bonus - his dad got to go back to school as well.
"Honestly, my first thought for I was just excited to tell my dad. I know he always wanted to go back," Malichai said.
"I was already a computer science major, I've tried to take classes here and there while working full time and raising Malachi but I just recently came back," Lee said.
"You do feel good being able to give back to my dad specifically because of everything he did to raise me to become the person that I am today," Malichai said.
"I have now the ability to earn more to provide more for him moving forward, allows him not to have to worry about certain things back home," Lee said.
The Fountain household is one of a hundred student-parent pairs pursuing higher education through the Hope Scholarship program. It's running at five CPS high schools where 12th graders who want to go to college, can. They've just gotta get in.
Malicahi says there's no real reason to pursue college if your family can't finance it. So, having that ability to finance it changed everything.
"A lot of my classmates back in high school began taking things a lot more seriously when they found out that they had this pathway open up," he said.
Students and their parents can study at one of the state's public, four-year public colleges, the Chicago city schools, or in vocational/professional training programs.
"I believe there's more people like me and Malachi in the city. Lot more people just want the opportunity to succeed and to better themselves and their family," Lee said.
Hope Chicago is partnered with over 45 different colleges and programs for both young students and their parents to earn a variety of degrees, certificates, and certifications.
It's always free of charge for up to four years of instruction.