In Ashley Colvin's vision of the future, she is a FBI agent hitting the streets and investigating crimes.

"I've always wanted to do that," said the Arbutus native, who grew up on Elm Road and now lives on Selma Avenue with her family.

"I don't want to sit behind a desk all day," she said. "I've never wanted to sit at a computer."

That future became all the more possible this summer, when Colvin -- a recent graduate of the Community College of Baltimore County -- received three separate scholarships to continue her college education at the University of Baltimore, she said.

She is currently studying criminal justice at the university, and when she graduates in the spring of 2011, she will become the first person in her family to earn a bachelor's degree, she said.

The career she wants in the FBI demands such a degree, she said.

While Colvin planned to attend the university with or without a scholarship, the money has eased -- and sped up -- her path to a diploma, she said.

For the last three years, Colvin attended CCBC part-time so she could also work to pay for her classes, she said.

Colvin has three younger sisters who her parents, John and Peggy Colvin, have to take care of, so it was up to her to pay for her education, she said.

She planned to continue working in her government job full-time while studying at the university part-time this year, but with the scholarships, she has been able to switch to full-time studies and part-time work, she said.

"If I didn't get the scholarships, I was going to continue and maybe just take two classes and go part-time to be able to pay for it," she said.

"This will allow me to do it faster and get into my career field."

The largest of the three scholarships Colvin received is the University of Baltimore's prestigious Wilson Presidential Scholarship, given to a handful of high-achieving students transferring to the university each year.

"It's one of the best scholarships the university has to offer," said Chris Hart, a university spokesman.

The scholarship will pay Colvin's entire tuition for the next two years, which, with her CCBC credits, is all she needs for her bachelor's degree.

Colvin easily met the scholarship's 3.5 grade-point average requirement with her CCBC-Catonsville average of 3.92. Hart called her "an ideal candidate."

Colvin was CCBC's criminal justice student of the year last year.

She earned A's in all her classes at CCBC except one, in which she had an 89.8 grade average, barely missing the A grade, she said.

Colvin also received one scholarship each from state Sen. Edward Kasemeyer and Del. Steven DeBoy, who both represent the Arbutus area, through the Maryland Higher Education Commission's legislative scholarship program.

The Senatorial Scholarship awarded her $500 and the Delegate Scholarship awarded her $150, all of which she used to pay for student fees not covered by the university scholarship, she said.

That just left her with a few hundred dollars in student fees and her books to pay for, she said.

Colvin attended Morrell Park Elementary School, Our Lady of Victory for middle school and Western School of Technology and Environmental Science for high school.

After she graduates from University of Baltimore, she said she might apply for a graduate program in political science.

The scholarships will help her save the money she may need for graduate school, she said.

"They're letting me further my education and let me get it done a lot quicker and let me do what I want to do faster," she said.

While CCBC prepared her well, classes at University of Baltimore are tough and her schedule working and taking classes is hectic, she said.

"It feels like I have no life, all I do is papers and work," she said with a laugh.

But it is all leading her toward the future she wants, she said, to the day she can call herself Agent Ashley Colvin.

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