Twins’ Tuition Is Now Paid in Full

Julia and Danielle Delgado, the Santa Ana twins who had to work their way through high school, now have their tuition to Mater Dei High School paid in full, plus a small college fund started.

The day after a Page One Times Orange County story appeared describing how the girls had given up a number of school activities in order to pay their own tuition, readers started calling the Catholic high school in Santa Ana to donate money toward their tuition, according to Dulcie McCracken, the Delgados’ academic counselor at Mater Dei.

“It never occurred to me that people would want to help. But when I came back to my office after the story, there were 16 bleeps on my phone machine,” McCracken said.

Once the remaining tuition was paid, people asked to donate money for the Delgados’ college education--the sisters plan to attend Irvine Valley College in the fall--so the school set up a college fund. To date that fund has $1,100.

“One woman gave us a television,” Danielle Delgado said. “I don’t know what to say or how to thank everyone. It’s all so amazing.”

The twins had paid for their schooling at Mater Dei since their junior year, when their divorced parents could no longer afford the tuition. In December, the sisters moved into an apartment with friends and began supporting themselves while working full time at In-N-Out Burgers in Costa Mesa.