The College Question: Middletown grad’s Ivy League education paid off

Buzzell, 22, said her experience as an undergraduate at Philadelphia’s University of Pennsylvania inspired her to dedicate almost a year of her life to community service.

In some ways Buzzell’s experience reflects the findings of a 2007 College Board report ‘‘Education Pays: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society.” Compiled by Sandy Baum and Jennifer Ma, the report found that the more education people have, the more likely they are to have civic participation. College graduates were more than twice as likely to volunteer, compared to high school graduates, the study found.

While completing her bachelor’s degree in public health, Buzzell volunteered as a tutor with three different programs in Philadelphia, she said. AmeriCorps seemed to be a natural continuation.

Discovering the satisfaction of volunteering was another plus of her Ivy League education, she said.

The University of Pennsylvania was Buzzell’s first and only college choice back in 2003. An excellent student, she was accepted early at the university that, according to College Board, accepts only 16 percent of applicants.

‘‘One of the greatest things at Penn was the ability to interact with people who are experts in their field,” she said. ‘‘You are reading textbooks that were written by your professors.”

And contrary to what many of Buzzell’s friends believed, the education there was not that expensive because of alternative financial options.

‘‘Penn is one of the most expensive schools in the country,” she said, ‘‘but I got a really good financial aid package.” Based on her family’s income, Buzzell’s financial aid covered about 70 percent of her education cost. That included a grant, federal loans and a work-study requirement.

Today, Buzzell estimates she owes $15,000 in student loans. That amount would have been higher if she had gone to the University of Maryland, she said.

When Buzzell completes the AmeriCorps program in July, she will receive a $5,000 education award, which she plans to put toward her college loans.

Buzzell plans to return to academics in the fall, and she has no reason to worry about accruing more debt. She has been accepted to complete a master’s in public health and a doctorate in demography at University of California at Berkeley. She has earned enough grants and scholarships to cover her tuition. ‘‘I am basically getting paid to go to school,” she said. ‘‘That is really nice.”