I started receiving those glossy brochures from colleges and universities sometime in my sophomore year of high school.

Each promised an excellent education, a true college experience and lifetime support for job placement.

To me, a blue-collar kid who never even visited New York City or Washington, D.C., it sounded amazing.

Then, my parents and I saw the price tags and panic hit.

How could we afford tens of thousands of dollars for a college degree?

This is a real issue facing families everywhere.

Students are going deep into debt for college as parents continue to remortgage homes and look for alternative ways to help their kids.

The cost of education is a major barrier preventing even high-achieving kids from attending college, especially those living at or near the poverty line.

In the Lehigh Valley, our region’s poverty is highly concentrated in our urban core.

In other words, kids attending Allentown schools are far less likely to go to college than in surrounding districts.

As an ASD dad, I know my kids get an excellent education, but poverty will prevent some of my kids’ classmates from going to college.

And, without a clear path to college, many of them will remain in that cycle of poverty.

After a fight I had with educational leaders in Harrisburg, Bloomsburg University chose to step up.

After a rather quick negotiation with ASD leadership, they agreed to team up to reduce the barriers preventing smart, hardworking kids from going to college.

Dedicated scholarships, parent engagement and guaranteed enrollment opportunities will ensure that these students have the same chances as other kids.

I was lucky as Pell grants and subsided Stafford loans were available to me. I also attended Penn State which is publicly funded and thus more affordable.

Through these programs, the community invested in me and my future. We need to invest in good, talented kids wherever they live. BU recognized this and is stepping up.

Neither my mom nor dad have a college degree, but they valued my education greatly. They wanted a different future for me than theirs and they saw college as the path that would lead me there.

By being creative and trying to address this problem, Bloomsburg University and Allentown schools are giving that same opportunity to thousands of kids who are just like me.

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Editor’s note: State Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-22nd, represents the 22nd Legislative District which includes: Allentown Ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 3, Ward 4, Ward 5, Ward 6 Division 1, Ward 7, Ward 8 Divisions 1 and 2, Ward 9, Ward 10 Division 1, Ward 11 Divisions 1 and 2, Ward 12, Ward 14 Division 2, Ward 16 and Ward 19.