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What if you were too rich to qualify for federal aid but too poor to comfortably pay for college?

This dilemma has prompted Mary Corrigan Solari – a 1946 graduate of University of Oregon – to donate $5 million to her alma mater.

Associate director of the university Michelle Holdway says that “it’s a very generous scholarship. It’s a 5-thousand dollar scholarship that’s renewable for 4 years. So it’s actually a 20-thousand dollar scholarship to each student who receives it. And there’s [sic] 125 of them, 125 awards that we can make in 2012 and we can make that same award again in 2013.”

Solari’s scholarship emphasizes a problem that an increasing number of middle-class students face each year. A weak economy coupled with high unemployment cuts deeply into the income of the average American family. A decent enough income, however, prevents these families from applying for aid from the government.

The only recourse that students have is student loans that can pin an individual’s finances down for years to come if employment cannot be quickly found. The fact that these loans cannot be discharged by bankruptcy makes them a very dangerous ‘last resort’ for students as well.

Scholarships for Single Mothers like the one Solari provides gives the average American family and single mothers a chance for some very-needed financial assistance.

“She (Solari) really was hoping to help students who she feels were really being kind of missed in the whole financial aid picture,” finalizes Holdway.