Scholarships

They are complete strangers, born of different cultures nearly eight decades apart. But a twist of historic fate has bound Fred Hoshiyama, a 94-year-old Japanese American, and Chimchanbo Uk, an 18-year-old Cambodian native: The families of both have experienced displacement amid political turmoil. Hoshiyama was forcibly removed from his Northern California home and sent to a bleak internment camp in Utah after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The NCAA has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit brought by athletes who claimed their full scholarships failed to cover all the costs of attending school, agreeing to create a $10-million fund for former athletes' educational expenses and ease access to $218 million in existing funding for current athletes.

Maurice Simmons, a linebacker who signed a letter of intent with USC, was arraigned Friday in Compton Superior Court and charged with felony robbery and assault with a firearm in connection with an incident that allegedly took place this week. Simmons, an 18-year-old senior at Compton Dominguez High, and codefendant Lamont Lee Hall, 19, both pleaded not guilty before Judge Judith Meyer, said Sandi Gibbons, spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

Addressing civil rights activists in Selma, Ala., a year ago, Sen. Barack Obama traced his "very existence" to the generosity of the Kennedy family, which he said paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and thus meet his Kansan mother. The Camelot connection has become part of the mythology surrounding Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. It is a touching story -- but key details are either untrue or grossly oversimplified.

Some UC Berkeley students who are denied federal financial aid because of a drug conviction will be eligible for a new scholarship funded by the student government, the organization decided this week. Though the stipends are only $400, supporters say they are a symbolic protest against a law they call unjust.

Concerned that finances may be one reason many African American students decide not to enroll at UCLA, a private group led by several prominent alumni has raised $1.75 million to bankroll scholarships for black freshmen. The group, which is headed by Los Angeles businessman Peter J. Taylor and leaders of UCLA's Black Alumni Assn., will make its first scholarship offers in the next few days and plans to give at least $1,000 to each admitted black freshman who enrolls.

The number of black students who intend to enroll as UCLA freshmen in the fall will be double last year's, an increase to 203 that officials attribute to changes in application review methods and to new private scholarships organized by African American alumni. The boost, announced Friday, eased concerns that blacks' presence at UCLA had declined so much -- down to 103 freshmen or 2.

Practically all of Timothy Legere's life has been about defying expectations. A foster child since he was 13 months old, Legere is a smart, well-adjusted, college-bound, straight-A student who says his life holds a lesson not only for other youths like him but also for adults who write off such children and their chances of success.

Suleika Zepeda is like most students at Paramount High School: She was raised in a working-class Spanish-speaking family. She struggled with English in elementary school. Her favorite bands include Mana and Los Tigres del Norte. But unlike most seniors who graduated with her this year, Zepeda is getting big help with university expenses. Her tuition, books and housing will not cost the 17-year-old scholarship winner's parents a cent.