“EOF has truly changed my life,” said Ava Boschulte, a 19-year-old Brookdale student, “I consider them my saviors.”
Boschulte currently works at the Educational Opportunity Fund office on the Lincroft campus as a student worker. She has been a student worker since her arrival at Brookdale in September of 2023 and will be closing out her tenure there later this spring.
Before EOF, Boschulte faced many challenges. “I grew up in a household with just my mother and my grandmother when I was little. I had no father figure or any sort of patriarchal help or substitute of that nature. And then later on, my grandmother ended up passing, and suddenly bills were stacking up and my expectation to go college, much less afford college, lessened more and more.”
Boschulte described her venture into the college world as harrowing. She originally abandoned the idea of getting a degree and sought to immediately jump into the workforce to help her mother. The thought of pouring time and effort into an institution she couldn’t afford made her dreams of college success diminish rapidly. Her goal became work: Work to afford her car, to help her mother and maybe start saving just a little for herself.
But that is when EOF came into the picture.
“I didn’t even know about the program. Never even heard of it. So, you can imagine my shock when one day I came into school and then, suddenly, I’m being pulled into the office and told that there was a massive opportunity I could go to college and that it would be a lot easier than I ever could imagine.”
Essentially, in Boschulte’s case, her guidance counselor had put in a word with the EOF organization who then sent a recruiter to her high school. It is fairly common for EOF to send field associates to local communities and schools, specifically targeting low-income students, with the hopes of getting them to apply for the program.
“I was sat down and briefed about what EOF is and what they do by the recruiter,” she said. “He was very, very kind and sort of taught me about the application process there.”
Unbeknownst to Boschulte, she has already been enrolled in the Dual Enrollment program that Brookdale offers certain schools. Therefore, they already had her name on file. All that was left to do was to fill out the form and submit it to Brookdale. From there, EOF would take care of the rest, especially the financial circumstances.
“I didn’t realize how much the program would genuinely impact my life. I think people just assume that EOF is only financially based, but that truly is just a fraction of what they do and provide. I’ve managed to find a network of people that are trying to help me succeed. I’ve met so many other people who are a part of the program who have now become my friends. They gave me a job! I mean, I get to work in this office from 9-5 or whatever times I choose to, and it is set up in a way which does not impact my education and schooling. They feed us for free!”
Boschulte’s schedule has become flexible through the EOF program, and her goal to finish community college and then transfer is within sight.
Now she is working toward earning a psychology degree and becoming a practicing psychologist.

As a student worker, Boschulte also gets to help other students apply for the program and to coordinate EOF events. “I love the job here,” Boschulte said, “I like helping other students in any way I can. I do not mind taking phone calls. I love the creative liberty I get when helping coordinate events or event ideas. And the staff I work with are genuinely some of the kindest people I have ever met,” she said.

“Everything here at EOF is built to help you succeed. The only difference is that you have to want to succeed and try. That is what makes it a true experience here.”