The Povolo quintuplets have decided they will all attend Montclair State University this fall. The university earlier this month offered the siblings -- Victoria, Masha, Ashley, Michael and Marcus -- full scholarships that cover tuition and fees. “We’re absolutely thrilled,” said Jeff Gant, director of undergraduate admissions at Montclair.
The scholarship is worth about $250,000 collectively. Because of the good grades they earned at Passaic Valley High School, the quintuplets are also being admitted as Presidential Scholars. “That’s designed to keep the best and brightest students in state, and they’re certainly representative of that,” Gant said.
Each of the two girls and three boys is choosing to pursue different degrees. Victoria wants to be a forensic pathologist. Masha plans to study political science and then head to law school. Ashley wants to teach. Michael wants to study nutrition and food science. And Marcus wants to study accounting. The quintuplets’ parents had been anxious about how they would pay college tuition for all five children at the same time.
“We worried about that a lot. Will we have to refinance the house? How much aid can we get?” Paolo Povolo told Montclair State. “The last several months while they were applying to college have been so stressful.” Though they each applied to several colleges, Montclair State was the only one they all applied to.