For Immediate Release

March 19, 2008

On Thursday, March 20, fifth graders at a trailblazing Oakland public school
will get a jump-start on their college education.

The East Bay College Fund, a nonprofit scholarship organization, is pledging
$1,000 college scholarships to each member of the 2008 graduating class at Think
College Now (TCN), a college preparatory school in Oakland’s ethnically diverse
Fruitvale district. The scholarships will be announced at TCN’s first-ever
Alumni Night. Thursday’s event features returning sixth graders describing their
middle school experiences and two scholars from the East Bay College Fund
talking about becoming the first in their families to get a higher education.

The ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the school, 2825 International
Boulevard, Oakland.

This marks the second consecutive year that East Bay College Fund has pledged
scholarships to graduating TCN students. Andy Fremder, president of the East Bay
College Fund, said his grassroots organization is delighted to support TCN’s
mission of enabling youngsters from low-income households to pursue higher
education.

“We continue to be impressed with the ability, passion and results demonstrated
by the TCN team,” says Fremder. Additionally, East Bay College Fund wants to
encourage “invaluable peer-to-peer counseling” among grade-school youngsters
similar to the successful model now taking place among the organization’s
college students.

TCN Principal David Silver says, “The $1,000 gives the students and their
families something tangible to motivate them to stay on the right track on their
path to college.”

The East Bay College Fund scholarships will become available once the fifth
graders graduate from high school and enroll in a t wo- or four-year college.

East Bay College Fund scholars Ana Guzmán and Adriana Pérez will be on hand to
congratulate and encourage the fifth graders. “I think it’s a great thing to be
thinking about opening up their eyes,” says Guzmán, a 20-year-old freshman at
San Francisco State University. A first-generation college student from Oakland,
Guzmán is the recipient of a $16,000, four-year scholarship from the East Bay
College Fund. “Education is the way out,” she says.

Pérez, also the first in her family to attend college, says, “Setting aside
money for fifth graders to go to college shows that people have hope in you.”
Pérez, a 21-year-old graduate of Oakland’s Fremont High School, is now a junior
at San Francisco State and helps advise Oakland high school students on the
college application process.

Founded in 2002, the East Bay College Fund has a core mission of providing
four-year college scholarships, mentoring an d other support to public high
school seniors from low-income families and East Bay communities with
historically low college attendance rates. Including the 2008 scholarships to be
awarded in May, the East Bay College Fund has assisted more than 75 promising
high school graduates.

For more information on the East Bay College Fund, please visit
www.eastbaycollegefund.org.

To learn more about Think College Now, please visit www.thinkcollegenow.org