SACO — Biddeford resident Patricia St. Pierre had considered going to college for a while.

“I’ve always wanted to go back to school, but I never had the opportunity,” she said.

She said after she graduated from high school in 1969, her parents didn’t really push college.

“It was get out of high school and get to work,” she said.

St. Pierre got married, raised two children and built a career in social services, working at Creative Works Systems for 10 years, working mostly in administration, doing fundraising and other work, with two years in residential care. Last fall, after working as a clinic assistant at York County Community Action for eight years, her job was eliminated.

St. Pierre said many of the available positions she’s been interested in since require an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.

“The game is not the same,” she said. “It’s a whole different ball game.”

After she lost her job, St. Pierre took college readiness classes in English and algebra at Saco Learning Center, studying hard with the help from tutors at Biddeford Adult Education.

“I can’t sit idle,” she said. “I have to rediscover who I am.”

This fall, St. Pierre will be taking her first college class, English 101, College Writing, at University College at Saco. The class, along with tuition, fees and books, is paid for by an Osher II scholarship. Through the scholarship program, one class in the University of Maine system along with books and associated fees are paid for. To qualify, a student must be a Maine resident and a high school graduate or GED recipient.

The scholarships, according to information provided by the university, are offered to encourage more Mainers of all ages to attend college. Preference is given to first-time college students. The scholarship was made possible by a gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation in 2000.

Suzan Nelson, director of University College at Saco, said college is a huge financial commitment. The scholarship allows students to test the waters, realize their potential and hopefully continue toward a degree program.

“This will launch them,” said Nelson.

Nelson said the typical Saco College student is not “a cookie cutter” student, and the college has many non-traditional students. Nelson said the staff is supportive, and will even look over rough drafts of school papers to check for grammatical errors.

Nelson said though the university does publicize the scholarship program, not everyone knows about it. Nelson said that the school’s advisor has a pretty good sense of who would make good candidates for the scholarship ”“ people who have a strong desire to go to college but may have some financial obstacles.

Nelson said St. Pierre has proven to be a good candidate through her dedication and hard work.

St. Pierre, who works part time at the office of Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, said she is thinking of majoring in administration or counseling. She said there are more opportunities for women today than when she graduated from high school. At that time, women were not encouraged to pursue options outside of nursing, teaching and secretarial studies.

At first, St. Pierre was nervous about going back to school, but having worked hard to prepare for college, she said Thursday, just a few hours before her first class, that she was excited and looking forward to it.

“I’m ready,” she said.

Michelle St. Onge of Portland and Gabrielle Lemay of Old Orchard Beach are also Osher II scholarship recipients at the University College at Saco.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.