"Harvard is one of the fortunate ones. MIT is one of the fortunate ones," he said. The grants Harvard helps to fund will allow local students to attend the college of their choice in "a much tougher [financial] environment," he added.
MIT President Charles M. Vest reiterated the importance of rising tuition costs.
"When I was an undergraduate my tuition was $120. So things have changed dramatically," he said.
With a college education, they said, Rindge and Latin students from underprivileged backgrounds could go on to become world leaders--or university presidents.
"Neil [Rudenstine], Chuck [Vest] and I, we each are boys who have grown into men who come from reasonably simple backgrounds," Reeves said. For them, he said, these grants have personal meaning as well.
While representatives of local companies talked to each other about the difficulties of offering funding, even for programs that appear worthwhile, the students spoke about the difficulties of their daily lives.
"Right now, my father's not working because of health problems and my mom's the only one working, and I have a little brother at home, and I do feel the pressure to do well," said Edgar W. Bacai, who plans to enter business or medicine if he can attend college.
"I feel that the reason I'm doing this is so later in life I'll be able to support my parents," he said.
While all of the students, who were chosen to speak based on their academic and extracurricular achievements, have strong records, they may have to rely on the city fund or similar programs in order to attend college.
They said that for them and many of their friends, a college education would be worth sacrificing everything--and sacrificing everything may be what it takes.
"There's no way that I'm not going to go to college," said Waleska Tiredo, whose father told her last week that her family may not be able to afford tuition.
"I'll do anything--student loans, work a lot-- I'll do anything to go. But not having money, is like a really big stop sign that's not going to get out of the way," she said.