Former community 
college students fund scholarship program

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Free college tuition for nearly every student graduating from a McHenry County high school?

It took eight years and three different colleges to get Mike Luecht, 45, his bachelor’s degree because he was working full time during the 1980s.

But Luecht’s time in college paid off. He and his wife, Judy, contributed $1 million to a scholarship fund that will give nearly all of the graduating seniors in McHenry County the opportunity to receive tuition-free freshman and sophomore years at McHenry County College starting in the fall of 2009.

Luecht, a resident of Lake in the Hills and president and chief executive officer of a commercial real estate investment and development firm, said the cost of college has risen faster than inflation, and he felt obliged to do something about it.

“Today’s high school graduates did not pick this economy,” Luecht said.  “If you don’t have the money to go to college, that’s a lifetime of consequences. College may not be for everyone, but everyone should have access to college.”

Luecht first attended Joliet Junior College.

The other named donor – also a $1 million contributor – is Vince Foglia, owner of Sage Products Inc. in Cary. Foglia attended Wright Junior College on the northwest side of Chicago. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he attended the University of Illinois when the school had classrooms at Navy Pier. The GI Bill covered Foglia’s tuition. At the launch of the program Monday, Foglia said he was the first in his family to attend college.

“Education is one of the keys to living a happy, successful life,” Foglia said.

MCC President Walt Packard said “the volunteer component” of the scholarship was an important selling point in persuading Foglia and Luecht to contribute to the program. Foglia said “giving back” should be an idea put into the heads of scholarship recipients. 

“[Luecht and Foglia] are two men who struggled to get where they are and could have had an attitude about it,” Walt Packard said. “But instead their attitude is, ‘Gee, is there something we can do to help?’ They are two wonderful guys.”

The third $1 million donor wished to remain anonymous, Packard said.

Three millionaires made the MCC Promise a reality. But Packard said Erv LeCoque, a former college trustee and a former member of the foundation board, came up with the idea for it. LeCoque several years ago suggested that the scholarship be modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise, Packard said.

News of the Promise still is sinking in.

“We’ve been trying to get the word out since the program was announced Monday,” said Shannon Landwehr, director of guidance at Woodstock High School. “It’s one of those unique programs that gives so many students the opportunity to get a college education and better their lives.

“I’ve had many approaching me and asking about the Promise.”

“There is a disconnect when you say, ‘scholarship,’” said Maureen Coates, Promise director. “People say to themselves, ‘I don’t think I would qualify.’ But it’s easy to qualify.”

Coates was invited the day after the launch to talk to 15 interested families at Crystal Lake Central High School.

Coates said that to qualify, students must fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, attend MCC the semester after graduating from high school, attend MCC full time, and maintain a minimum 2.0 grade-point average.

“I think it’s a phenomenal idea,” said Hank Harvey, director of guidance at Cary-Grove High School, who said he was familiar with the Kalamazoo Promise. “There is a lot of interest in it, but it’s such a new program. The college is offering training to our staff so we can give out accurate information about it.”