Donovan Colquitt is a mechanical engineering student at the University of Michigan. He got there without costing his parents or stepparents a dime.

He is a Gates Millennium Scholar, a Buick Achievers National Scholar, a KFC Colonel Scholar and a University of Michigan LEAD Scholar, honors netting him more than $1 million for school. Still, nearly every morning, he stops by the Engineering Learning Lab in the Chrysler Center to watch WJBK-TV (Channel 2) news and visit the collegenet.com website to apply for more scholarship money. The site has a $10,000 cap. He had reached $9,135.22 by Friday afternoon.

Colquitt, 22, isn't greedy. He just believes you can never have too much money for college, you can never study too hard and you can never get up too early to catch that pesky worm. He wants other students to work as hard as he does, dream as much as he does. So besides studying engineering law and looking for alternative energy sources, he has written a book to encourage young people to go to college and tell how to get the money to go.

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At Southfield Lathrup High School, "I was the guy everybody came to with their problems," Colquitt said when asked why he wrote the book. "I was a really quiet, shy guy. But a lot of people asked me for advice. ... So writing a book was something tangible I could give students."

At a time when colleges are increasing tuition and fees and families are struggling to find money, Colquitt doesn't just want to teach students where the money is. He wants them to understand why college is not a luxury, but a necessity.

"By educating students on resources that are available to them, it can help them make their own way to college," he said, "because college is the precursor to life's success. It's the perfect place for self-expression and really connecting with people who can take your dreams, your visions, your hopes, your plans, to another level."

His book, "The Scholar's Key" (xlibris), is available for $12.99 on Amazon. In addition to a few speaking engagements with the book, he'll be spending the summer working at the General Motors plant in Brownstown Township and the Center for Educational Outreach at U-M.

He began applying for scholarships because friends encouraged him. His father, Duane Colquitt, didn't complete college; his mother, Monica Wilks, has bachelor's and master's degrees.

Colquitt was the first among his parents' seven children — a mix of half and stepbrothers and sisters — to attend college. And two others have decided on a similar path. A half sister is attending college in Georgia to become a dentist or dental hygienist. And a stepbrother is attending the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Colquitt described his book as "a self-help, motivational guide on how to apply for scholarships and tips for studying and the power of attending college." Colquitt's advice for students: "Never give up. Never let anyone tell you that you're not going to be the successful person you will grow into. Growth is a natural part of life, and a lot of people resist the change and are very stubborn. I think it's important to be open-minded. Don't let your dreams become nightmares because you never completed them.

"I never thought I'd be a tree-hugger," he said, "but I'm currently taking environmental law and it's the most interesting class I've had throughout my entire college career. It's really insane how relevant it is today. I guess you could say I'm an environmentalist, but I'm not a very serious environmentalist."

Colquitt has many lessons, some of them hard, that came from situations he overcame, lessons he hopes might help others dealing with what he did in high school.

"I think the biggest thing I've learned about myself is even though I've come from a divided home, I am loved," he said. "I've been teased. I've been bullied. I've been a loner for a lot of my grade school career, and I don't really see that as something I struggled through because I overcame it. ... I found I didn't realize how much I could overcome until I did. That is what's been shaping my outlook on life and has made me more positive as a person.

"My greatest wish for kids coming up behind me is to know they can be loved," he said. "When I see students that don't believe in themselves and have been going through struggles in school and in their own homes, I see myself in them. It hurts to see all this potential not being used to the fullest."

He has suggestions for public schools and for parents:

"I would like to see more mentors in the public schools. I would like to see more young adults mentoring other young adults. I would like to see speakers go to school every Friday, so kids can learn the importance of networking."

Oh, and he has a suggestion for young people, too — put down the cell phones.

"A lot of people are stuck on their phones, texting everybody," he said. "The younger generation is starting to lack social skills, and we're starting to look for everyone's acceptance and approval through our Instagram, our Twitter, our Facebook, even our YouTube accounts. We want to be popular. We want to be something that we're not. We want to be loved, but we don't know how to be loved. ..."

Colquitt said he found his comfort zone — and love — far from the engineering school.

"I found my group, not in the National Society of Black Engineers, but I found it in in the Michigan Gospel Chorale. That's when I found out how much I was loved. Those people made me laugh. Those people make me cry. They're there for me," he said.

Colquitt said he's looking forward to semester's end when he'll return to work as a GM intern, not at the 4-million-square-foot Flint plant where he worked last summer, but at the GM plant in Brownstown Township. Last year, he was a facilities intern who, at one juncture, counted the water fountains. He said there were close to 200.

Contact Rochelle Riley at 313-223-4473.