In 1934, Kirk Douglas (yes, that Kirk) hitchhiked with a friend up to St. Lawrence University. Douglas couldn’t afford the tuition given his family’s impoverished circumstances, but he brought his transcripts, essays, and a letter of recommendation from one of his teachers. He managed to get a meeting with the school’s Dean, made his case, secured a loan, and matriculated. The following semester he won a scholarship.
Important about the story is that there were no federal student loans at the time, which meant Douglas’s odds of attending St. Lawrence had been low. Which was the point, and is the point now.
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