As a high school student, Taw Paw almost didn’t apply to UNC—she didn’t think she’d get accepted. Born in Thailand, Taw and her family are Burmese refugees who left their home country due to ethnic cleansing. Although she has lived in Colorado since the age of five, Taw moved between different schools along the Front Range which negatively impacted her studies. She felt her grades weren’t good enough for her to qualify her to apply to a four year university. With encouragement from her parents, Taw agreed to tour UNC and felt instantly at home.

“I fell in love with the campus and I could see myself coming here,” says Taw. “The school is so diverse, which was one thing I was really missing.”

As an independent student, Taw was prepared to take out student loans on top of her four part-time jobs to help afford her college expenses.

“I had applied to so many scholarships but wasn’t hearing back and felt stuck,” reflects Taw.

Then she applied to the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI), a state-funded program that has been providing tuition assistance COSI BY THE NUMBERS $4.2 million in funding since 2015 375 students enrolled $335,000 matched by UNC donors and services to give students a path toward an affordable college degree and a career since 2014.

At UNC, 375 students are enrolled in COSI this year, which has provided $4.2 million in funding since 2015. In addition to state funds, generous UNC donors have given $335,000 to the COSI program, providing dollar-for-dollar matches to the scholarship program for a total of $670,000 since 2018.

“Receiving the COSI scholarship was completely unexpected,” she says.

While the financial support has been incredibly impactful, Taw lights up when explaining the relational benefits of the program. Halfway through her freshman year, Taw’s father suffered an accident. Nickie Archibeque, COSI Coordinator and Success Coach, immediately came to Taw’s side.

“Nickie was such a big support, giving me advice, guiding me, offering me rides when my dad was sick,” says Taw. “That is another reason why COSI is so great. She was like a mom when I needed it.”

COSI also provides what it calls “wrap-around support services” which includes resources like Bear Pantry, mental health services and weekly workshops to help students succeed. The workshops help students address issues such as anxiety, exam preparedness, or impostor syndrome.

“As a college student, you have stress, anxiety, mental health issues, so COSI’s workshops help a lot,” says Taw. “The topics they pick aren’t random, they’re things we can actually relate to and overcome.”

Taw also has a community of support as a Reisher Scholar. Reisher scholars are paired with other recipients from their class into cohorts.

“They pair us unexpectedly but the relationship I have with my group is amazing. Our connection is so strong and we always support each other.”

With the help of her scholarships, Taw is pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology with a minor in Sociology. Every career she ever dreamed of having seemed to involve criminal justice.

“When I was younger, I wanted to be a firefighter, then a cop, then an FBI agent,” says Taw. “I want to help people, especially my people. I want to fight for women’s rights and be their voice and benefit my community.”