Scholarships ‘Shaped the Trajectory of My Life’

Story by Robyn Murray | Video by Lance Schwartz

 

Teresa Lostroh is doing what she’s doing today thanks to one thing: scholarships. She received a generous award to attend the University of Nebraska–Lincoln — and not just one. Lostroh received several scholarships, and their impact was life-changing.

Lostroh grew up on a farm near Malcolm, Nebraska, about 13 miles northwest of Lincoln. She knew she wanted to attend college, but as one of six kids in her family, finding financial assistance was her biggest hurdle.

“My parents absolutely wanted to help me out and would have … to whatever extent possible,” Lostroh said, “but with multiple kids in college at the same time, I wouldn’t have been able to live on campus or study abroad or anything beyond whatever they could have contributed to tuition.”

Lostroh received a Regent’s Scholarship that fully paid for her tuition. She also received two private scholarships through the University of Nebraska Foundation that covered her living costs so she could live on campus all four years of her academic career. Not only that, Lostroh received two study-abroad scholarships that allowed her to study in Spain for a summer and spend a semester in Costa Rica.

“Scholarship support made those experiences possible for me and ultimately shaped the trajectory of my life,” Lostroh said. “I’m very lucky.”

Lostroh majored in Spanish and journalism at UNL and then went on to get her master’s degree in higher education administration. She began working in New Student Enrollment at UNL as a graduate student and is now associate director of the office. She is one of the first people new students see on campus, and she helps them navigate their academic journeys. She said she tries to instill excitement, confidence and joy in the students she meets, because she knows how transformative it can be to come to the University of Nebraska.

“My life has come full circle, and that can be directly tied back to the scholarships I got and the opportunities I had as a result of those,” Lostroh said. “So, I hope that other students who receive those scholarships get to have the same transformative experiences that I did as a result of receiving foundation support.”