Student Profile

History of Presidential Golf Tournament

Crystal Krabbenhoft
2000

Crystal Krabbenhoft, a Psychology major, is finishing up her first full year at Tech, after having transferred from a community college in northern Illinois. Krabbenhoft already has discovered some of the benefits numerous Tech students such as her have gained form the Tech President’s Tuition Assistance Fund.

Shortly after she arrived at New Mexico Tech, Krabbenhoft realized that the estimated financial contributions listed for both her and her parents in a standardized federal financial aid profile would not be met.

“The costs associated with my going to school here were more than my parents could afford,” Krabbenhoft explains. “So, essentially, I’d be paying for college out of my own pocket.”

Even though she was working on campus as a part-time clerical assistant with Tech’s Advancement Office, Krabbenhoft couldn’t see how she could continue to afford to be a full-time student, live on campus, and pay out-of-state tuition.

“It was looking like I would have to get a full-time job off-campus on top of going to school,” Krabbenhoft relates. “And even then, I would have been barely able to afford attending Tech.”

When Krabbenhoft approached the Tech Financial Aid Office and explained her expected financial quandary, the director of financial aid was quick to point her in the right direction: to the Tech President’s Office.

She was subsequently approved as one of the award recipients of the President’s Tuition Assistance Fund.

“Although I was receiving the Regents Scholarship at the time, it was an added bonus getting financial assistance which was not merit-based,” Krabbenhoft says. “It didn’t really make me worry more about my G.P.A.; and I could approach my studies with a far more relaxed attitude.

“If it hadn’t been for the President’s Tuition Assistance Fund, I would not have been able to continue attending New Mexico Tech,” she adds. “I would have had to go back home to my county’s community college.”

Krabbenhoft points out that the funds made available to her for the two semesters have given her a marked sense of financial stability.

“As a result, I’m able to get a good quality education here at New Mexico Tech,” she says. “And I even had a little left over in my account to cover the cost of attending summer school, as well.”