American Dream Grant helps mother, son build future

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Northwest's needs-based American Dream Grant is making college affordable
for Alex Wray, right, and his mother Sherry Wray.

For generations millions of people across the United States have held to the belief that with hard work and determination anyone can achieve the American dream.

Sadly that is not always the case, especially for those who lack the financial resources to lay the groundwork for a professional career by earning a college degree.

Northwest Missouri State University and the Northwest Foundation are working hard to ease the burden on students from lower-income families while they strive to make their American dreams come true.

Through the University’s American Dream Grant, a pioneering needs-based program designed to expand access to higher education, academically qualified students can receive a helping hand toward achieving their educational goals without assuming crippling debt or forcing their families to bear an unreasonable financial burden.

American Dream Grant recipients meet all Northwest admissions criteria and come from families with combined taxed and untaxed incomes of $30,000 or less. The grant pays virtually all college expenses during a student’s first two years at the University, including tuition, fees, room, board, books and the use of a laptop computer.

The sole student contribution is $1,000 per semester, which can be earned by working part-time, often on campus, for a few hours a week.

Maryville High School graduate Alex Wray is currently an American Dream Grant recipient -- one of nearly 850 Northwest students who have benefited from the program since its inception in 2004. The number of awards given each year is determined by available University funding and donor support through the Northwest Foundation.

The program has dramatically eased the cost of higher education for Wray and his mother, Sherry Wray, a single mom who has been battling cancer since 2003.

Sherry Wray was already working two jobs, one at Gray’s Truck Stop north of Maryville and another at Northwest, while putting herself through college. After Alex graduated from high school, she was afraid she would have to drop out so her son could attend the University.

Because of the American Dream Grant, however, both mother and son remain proud Bearcats.

“This grant took the hardship off of me trying to figure out how to finance Alex’s college education,” Sherry Wray said. “This way, we are both able to stay on track with our education. The entire idea of the American Dream Grant is the start of something good … that someone has faith in these students who come from lower-income families. When alumni give to the American Dream Grant it’s like they are saying to the student, ‘we want you to carry on this tradition.’”

Alex Wray, a broadcasting major who lives in Dieterich Hall, also received a Pell Grant, an A+ Scholarship and a Freshman Merit Scholarship. He said he wasn’t aware of the American Dream Grant until he received notification from Northwest that he was eligible.

“I didn’t find the American Dream Grant. It found me -- thankfully,” he said. “Now I don’t have to worry about where the money is coming from, and I can focus on school. When I graduate I’m going to remember that someone provided the money for me to go to college. I want to do the same for others.

“Although I can’t pay the exact people back, I will at least give back to Northwest so Northwest can help others like me.”

To learn more about how you can help support the American Dream Grant, call the Northwest Foundation at 660.562.1248 or e-mail advance@nwmissouri.edu.

For more information, please contact:

For More information contact:
Mitzi Lutz, Advancement Communications Specialist
Office of University Advancement
Northwest Missouri State University
800 University Drive, Alumni House
Maryville, MO 64468
mitzi@nwmissouri.edu
660.562.1248 (phone)
660.562.1990 (fax)
www.nwmissouri.edu/alumni

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