Yet for some of the more than 7,600 students who will be getting their diplomas later this month from Cal State Northridge, getting a college education required something more - a determination to succeed regardless of obstacles, many seemingly insurmountable, that could have kept them from reaching their goals.

"These students represent the best of Cal State Northridge. We are truly what a modern university in an urban setting should be - a place where people from different backgrounds, different socio-economic levels, religions and places of birth can come together, learn and share ideas and realize their academic dreams," said CSUN President Jolene Koester.

Here is a short list of some of these extraordinary graduates:

• Germaine Cresmer, B.A. in Humanities
  When Cresmer, 31, of Silver Lake, graduated from high school in 1989 she had every intention of getting a college degree. She even enrolled at CSUN.

  Cresmer attended school full time for a couple of years and worked part time. But she eventually dropped out to work full time. She told herself that she would continue her education on a part-time basis. But she ended up not going to school at all.

  Cresmer was working as a receptionist at a clothing company when she left school, and was promoted to benefits coordinator at the company in 1996.

  "I found my niche, I liked what I was doing and was interested in going on in the human resources field," Cresmer said. "After a couple of years I picked up the classifieds looking for jobs as a human resources assistant, but everything required a college education. My heart just sank. Then I decided to get smart."

  After a couple of false starts, she made a cold call to CSUN in 1998, dialing the university's general information number and asking the person who answered the phone for a counselor in the College of Humanities.

  With the help of that counselor, Cresmer re-enrolled in school, first at a community college and then at CSUN in 2000. It wasn't easy; she still worked full-time and had to squeeze classes in after work. She would leave her office in Commerce at 5 p.m. and race across town to Northridge in time for evening classes, often wistfully driving past the freeway off-ramp that led to her home.

  "The hard part is getting on the ball," she said. "When you only work, you work and go home and get paid for it. When you go back to school, you pay to go to school, and you get homework. All my evenings and weekends were ruined. I had papers and studying to do. But these are small sacrifices we make for a better life. Education is so important. So I missed a few parties. Can you imagine what I'd miss if I didn't go back to school?"

  Cresmer will be receiving her diploma during the College of Humanities' ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on May 29 on the Oviatt Lawn.

• Michael Goldberg, B.A. in Psychology
  As a child growing up in Ohio, Goldberg, 44 of Granada Hills, said he never thought he would get a college education. He barely made it through high school.

  Goldberg's father had cerebral palsy and took out his frustrations with society's intolerance of his disability at that time on his family, both physically and emotionally. Goldberg rebelled, paid little attention in school and took drugs. "I had the ability to succeed, but I just didn't care," he said.

  When his parents moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1970s, Goldberg followed and pursued a career as a drummer. While he never made it big, he did manage to make a living as a musician and music teacher.

  He was a married for a short time while in his 20s and had a son. He remarried in 1989 and had two more children. In the late 1990s, Goldberg decided his music career was not enough and enrolled at a community college to study psychology.

  He admitted he was frightened. He barely made it though high school and wasn't sure he had the academic skills to make it through college.

  "But I knew I wanted to make a difference in people's lives and use what I've been through to help other people, especially young people. I think I can relate to them," said Goldberg, who transferred to CSUN in 2000.

  Goldberg would like to be a school psychologist and has applied to CSUN's master program in psychology. He will be graduating at 8 a.m. on May 30 during the College of Social and Behavioral Science's ceremony on the Oviatt Lawn.

• Serafina Herrera, B.A. in Chicana/o Studies
  It's taken Herrera, 52, of Oxnard, 26 years, but she's finally getting her degree.

  When she first enrolled in college it was 1976 and she was a young housewife with two small children. She had always loved school and was interested in taking classes and maybe getting a degree.

  She took classes when she could and flirted with the idea of getting a degree in what was then a new field of study, Chicana/o studies. But a little more than two years into her studies she became pregnant again, this time with twins. She dropped out of school for a while to raise her children.

  "But I took classes here and there. It was important for me that my kids saw that their mom could go to school and finish," she said.

  Then in 1993, just as she decided to focus on her college career, her husband announced he wanted a separation and within a few months he filed for divorce. Within days of the divorce, Herrera learned she had breast cancer.

  "I has just signed up for a new semester and was diagnosed after the first class," Herrera said. "It was really hard. I was terrified for health reasons, but at that same time it was really important to me to let my children know that everything was going to be all right. They were still dealing with the divorce when I got breast cancer. I didn't want them to see me fail. It was important that they see me productive and doing things, so I stayed in school."

  It was hard as Herrera dealt with the effects of a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Herrera admitted that much of the year after she was diagnosed is a fog, but she made it through. And in the mid 1990s, she transferred to CSUN to get her bachelor's degree. One of her sons had already gotten his degree in education from the university, and her twin daughters were finishing up their studies at CSUN. "CSUN is like family to us, I wouldn't have gone anywhere else," she said.

  Herrera, who works part time for Ventura County in its senior meals program, was well on her way to her degree when she had a mild stroke last November.

  "I was very fortunate. I knew something was happening and I called the doctor right away," she said. "Luckily it was near the end of the semester and I had done most of the work. I only missed a couple of classes before I was back doing what I needed to do. The professors were wonderful and supportive."

  Herrera will receive her diploma on May 29 at the College of Humanities' commencement ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on the Oviatt Library Lawn.

• Ritzel Starleigh Ngo, B.A. in Political Science/Women's Studies
  Ngo, 21, of Eagle Rock, admitted that she almost didn't make it to college. Growing up in Los Angeles' Koreatown, she said there were other things more attractive than getting an education.

  'Her parents divorced when she was in grade school and she watched as her mother struggled to raise two daughters by herself while working full time. By the time Ngo reached high school, she said she was a handful. She was involved in gangs and ditched school on a regular basis. When she was 13, she ran away from home. But nearly two weeks spent trying to survive alone on Los Angeles' hard streets convinced her to return home.

  "Shortly after I came back, my mom and I were driving by the Covenant House (a home in Hollywood for troubled teens) and I asked her what it was. She said it was for kids like me and suggested I might like to work there over the summer," Ngo said. "It was one of the wisest things she ever did."

  Ngo ended up spending that summer and the next three years volunteering at not only the Covenant House, but also with American Red Cross and Tuesday's Child. Working with disadvantaged young people and their families helped keep Ngo in school and, with a gentle nudge from her mother and a new stepfather, prompted her to explore the idea of college.

  She has applied to law school and would like to practice public interest law.

  Ngo will receive one degree on May 29, at the College of Humanities' commencement ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on the Oviatt Library Lawn. She will receive her second degree at 8 a.m. at the College of Social and Behavioral Science's ceremony on May 30 on the Oviatt Library Lawn.