Kelly Ordonez Saybe didn't get into her first college choice, the University of St. Thomas.
Saybe, 18, had other college options, but worried about how she would pay the daunting cost of tuition. Then she got accepted into the Dougherty Family College, St. Thomas' new two-year school for low-income students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.
"I knew that I needed to find something that was going to be the right fit," said Saybe, a 2017 Roseville Area High School graduate. For her, that happened to be the Dougherty Family College, which is welcoming its first class this fall.
Although it is a two-year program, Dougherty students will get a college experience similar to St. Thomas, but for far less money, said Doug Thompson, associate dean of students at Dougherty.
"I think the resources and the support that our students will receive at the DFC will separate them from other community college students," Thompson said.
The Dougherty school could offer huge savings over other colleges. Tuition and fees are expected to be $15,000 per year, but school officials say tuition could be as low as $1,000 per year, after grants and financial aid, for the neediest students.
By comparison, tuition alone at St. Thomas is more than $40,000 per year.
St. Thomas drew inspiration for the two-year school from Arrupe College, a similar program at Loyola University in Chicago. Dougherty students will earn a two-year associate degree that they can use to transfer into a four-year university, including St. Thomas.
