Rising Scholar Awarded Prestigious Transfer Scholarship

May 13, 2025 - 11:30 AM

Mt. San Antonio College Rising Scholars student Megan Lohans has been chosen to receive the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, valued at up to $55,000 annually for three years.  The selection of Lohans, also an Honors Program student, marks the 13th time in college history that a Mt. SAC student has been selected as a Cooke Scholar.

Lohans, 40, is a first-generation college student majoring in Addiction Counseling and is set to graduate in June.  A resident of West Covina and a single mother to a four-year-old, Lohans serves as an associate justice on the Associated Students Student Court and received a Student of Distinction award in the Personal Achievement category.

Lohans is one of only 90 community college students selected from a nationwide pool of 1,600 applicants based on academic achievement, persistence, desire to help others, and leadership. The 90 new Scholars were selected from a semifinalist pool of 467 students. Applicants were evaluated based on their academic achievement, unmet financial need, persistence, and leadership qualities.

Formerly incarcerated, homeless and in recovery from addiction, Lohans said her positive experience at Mt. SAC, especially in the Rising Scholars program, led her to discover “an incredible desire to represent the formerly incarcerated community by gaining academic success with ferocity.”

“My greatest desire is to seek a career working with criminally justice-involved individuals who are re-entering society after spending time in incarceration,” she said. “I have become determined to be a success story, and I will never go back.”

The 2025 cohort marks one of the largest in the Foundation’s 25-year history, reinforcing its continued commitment to creating debt-free pathways to higher education for high-achieving students with financial need.

While nearly 80% of community college students aspire to earn a bachelor’s degree, only 16% reach that goal within six years. The Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, which makes this goal more attainable for selected students, provides last-dollar funding of up to $55,000 per year for up to three years and eases the financial burden of completing a four-year degree. Cooke Scholars also are eligible for graduate school funding after completing their bachelor’s degree. That award provides an additional $75,000 for graduate study.