FSCJ makes 'promise' to help students graduate without debt

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Lyse Medina’s parents moved to Jacksonville from Haiti so she could have more opportunities, but the change brought challenges.

Medina tells Action News Jax, “My dad is a taxi driver, and my mother isn’t working right now because she has had several eye surgeries.”

Medina said there wasn’t any money for college.

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She’s relied on scholarships and financial aid, but even that isn’t enough.

The sophomore explains, “In order to go to college, I have to work or get financial aid, which sometimes would not disperse on time … That’s a lot coming out of my pockets, because I’m only working part time.”

Florida State College at Jacksonville president Cynthia Bioteau said the cost of tuition, books and fees adds up and overwhelms students.

“Eighty percent of our students are part-time and when asking them why they were part-time, it’s because they had to work to pay for college,” explains Bioteau.

She hopes the FSCJ Promise will lighten the load.

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Under the new initiative, books, fees and tuition for the first two years will be covered for Nassau and Duval students who are Pell-grant eligible.

“Then we will put together work study, student employment, paid internships and private scholarships to put all the pieces in places so that that student has no debt whatsoever,” said Bioteau.

For Medina, that type of help would have made a world of difference.

“That’s like a college student’s dream right there,” she said.

She’s glad other students won’t have to worry, focusing instead on a future without financial burden.

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