by Adele Uphaus-Conner

When she graduates from the University of Mary Washington with a degree in psychology this month, Carolyn Huffstickler, 68, will have benefited from a free college education.

The Stafford County resident is grateful, but she wouldn’t call herself lucky.

“People say I’m so lucky to have gotten a free education,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It was not free. You have no idea of the price I’ve paid.”