 "Photo: COURTESY PHOTO")
College students know only too well how hard it is to pay for higher education. That's why a College Station Aggie family is asking for their votes to help provide for their sons' college tuition.
College service provider uPromise allows families to start saving for college funds by registering online and making purchases from participating retailers, companies and restaurants. Registration is free, but the rewards can add up quickly. Participating companies include McDonald's, eBay and Bed Bath & Beyond. For each purchase made, registered consumers receive 1-5 percent of the money spent back into their college fund.
"If you register with them and buy certain products, they'll actually put money into your college savings account," said Christopher Kocmoud, Class of 1991, who registered his family. "So it's just another way to save money for college."
Besides the daily convenience, uPromise has an annual contest to award a $25,000 scholarship. In Tuition Tales, applicants must submit a 30-second video explaining why they deserve the scholarship. Between January and March, applicants across the nation submitted videos to a committee that reviewed them and selected 10 finalists. The finalists received word of the selections at the end of March.
The final selection for the scholarship depends on national votes. People can enter the uPromise website, watch the finalists' videos and vote for their favorite. To vote, each person must register by providing a name and e-mail address. Once registered, viewers can return to the site daily to vote again for their favorite. The voting period began April 1 and will end Wednesday.
Kocmoud and his wife Kimberly, Class of 1991, are residents of College Station. With their nine children, they have already discovered the benefits of using uPromise. When they heard about the scholarship, they chose to enter their two eldest sons, Nathan and Matthew, who are 15-year-old identical twins. For their creative entry video, the family chose to stay inside the box.
"I have nine children, so we did a parody of the 'Brady Bunch,'" Kocmoud said.
The video features all of their children, the youngest at 7 months, set up in nine individual squares. While the twins sing about their need to get college funds, the other children are interacting among their boxes. At one point, one of the younger sons drops an apple on his brother's head, then switches squares with his sister.
"We submitted the video as a family, but [the twins] are the ones telling the story and trying to get the scholarship," Kocmoud said.
The family's Aggie spirit extends to future plans.
"The twins are 15 and hoping to start [at] A&M in the next three years," Kocmoud said. "As of right now, all nine children want to go to A&M."
The family has used their network to spread the word about the voting poll. The family appeared on "KBTX News at 5." Nonetheless, the family still needs more votes.
uPromise Tuition Tale videos are online at www.upromise.com/tuitiontales. The voting period continues until Wednesday and registered voters can cast one vote a day. The Kocmoud family asks that all Aggies log on to help insure their sons get the scholarship and continue toward their Aggie dreams.
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