San Fernando Valley : Couple Offers to Replace Scholarship

Dinora Marroquin had worked for it. The El Salvador native endured 1 1/2-hour bus rides from her Koreatown home to Birmingham High school in Van Nuys. She tackled advanced placement classes in English, though she spoke no English before she was 7 years old.

And in February, she was one letter away from her dream: A scholarship to the prestigious Scripps College for women.

But the letter never came.

There was a mix-up on the address attached to her financial aid form, it turned out.

And by the time the 17-year-old senior figured out what had happened, Scripps said sorry, but it had given away the very last of its scholarship dollars.

Marroquin cried.

So did Azar Sagheb of Encino when she heard Dinora’s story Tuesday morning.

The girl’s history teacher had called the couple, who have donated money for other students to attend college.

Sagheb was so upset that she and her husband, Harry, offered the girl $12,000 to replace the scholarship.

“You don’t know what this means to me,” Marroquin told her benefactors as she met them for the first time Tuesday afternoon at their home.

“Well,” said Azar, “you made my heart drop this morning when I heard your story.”