HARD WORK CAN BRING REWARDS

While universities are moving through some hard times financially, it might be good to point out that some rewards remain for students with energy and enthusiasm. The description is apt for Marianne Ragins, a senior at Northeast High School in Macon, Ga. Her academic acumen (she will graduate third in her class) and her persistence in researching opportunities and filling out applications have yielded her scholarship offers totaling $258,000.

Among the offers are $26,000 from the University of Florida, $5,000 from the Illinois Institute of Technology, an $8,000 Armstrong Achievement Scholarship, a $60,000 package from Rhodes College in Memphis and $20,000 from the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. She is leaning toward a scholarship at the University of New Orleans. Though some of the awards were aimed solely at minority students, most are general in nature and available to all who have worked hard in school and had the gumption to apply.

We don't discount the contention that some worthwhile students are being shut out of grants and other college funding in a difficult economic environment, but it is refreshing to note that those who work hard can still find rewards.