Nicholls to offer '1st generation' scholarships

Nicholls State University will offer 24 scholarships this fall exclusively to students who are the first in their family to attend college.

The scholarships will range from $500 to $1,250 for qualifying students. The Daily Comet reports that money for Nicholls' First-Generation Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship Program will come from Board of Regents. There will be matching funds from Thibodaux-area contributors.

Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert said the school has long served as a place for low-income families with limited educational backgrounds to send their children to college. Hulbert said even today about 60 percent of Nicholls students are first-generation.