Amid defunding of the Department of Education, nearly $2 million of funding was renewed for the University of the Pacific in Stockton – specifically for students who are the first in their family to attend college.

Success TRiO, UOP's federally funded student educational opportunity program, says this money will change lives in Stockton.

"I'll be the first in the family to finish my bachelor's degree," said Sounie Proeung-Sok, a senior at Pacific.

Proeung-Sok, a native Stocktonian, will not only be the first in his family to graduate and get a degree, but also the first to be a university student.

"I'm very proud to be first-generation. I'm first-generation Cambodian-American," Proeung-Sok said. "I come from a family of eight. I'm the first in my family to attend college."

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