Maryvale teen gets accepted to 17 colleges, offered millions in scholarships
PHOENIX - Graduation season is here, and for many high school graduates, their next step is heading to college.
High school graduates and their families know that paying for college is a tough task. Many apply for scholarships, and then based on financial aid, decide where they will go. One local graduate, however, has a number of options because she was offered millions in financial aid.
"I've always liked to go to school, and I’ve always liked to learn," Analy Cota said. "I'm really social and I like to be involved."
Cota, 17, is a senior at Bioscience High School in the Phoenix Union High School District. The daughter of immigrants, she grew up in Maryvale and has always known that education can unlock doors.
"My parents, they don't have the best-paying jobs, so low income, first-generation student," Cota said. "That’s kind of like my motivation. Give back to my parents that sacrificed everything for me."
Arizona girl offered $4M in scholarships
College affordability is a problem for many Americans, but for one high school student in the Maryvale area of Phoenix, she wont have to worry about that. Analy Cota has been accepted to over a dozen colleges, and was offered millions in scholarship, in total. FOX 10s Ellen McNamara reports.
Cota applied to 23 colleges and universities: 20 out-of-state schools and the three state schools.
"I applied to so many, because I was like, there's no way," Cota said.
In the end, Cota got into 17 schools.
"Brown, Williams College, Pomona, Amherst," Cota said, to name a few.
Analy Cota
Every school Cota got into offered her significant scholarship money. So much money, in fact, that the money over a four-year period totaled more than 4 million dollars.
"I did the hard work, and it paid off, yeah, it means a lot," Cota said.
Cota is the first in the district to reach that figure.
"I hope there's other students, lower classmen that might see it and see me and think that they can also do that," Cota said.
Cota might major in political science. Whatever she ends up doing in life, she says she wants to help people and continue to make her parents proud at Williams College in Massachusetts.
"I want to thank everyone that has helped me get to where I am," Cota said. "And any advice or questions that you've answered for me. Those individuals have been a part of this journey, and I couldn't have done it without them, especially my parents."