Sometimes, it’s all about access. The best golfer in the world can never play in the Masters without a set of clubs. Even the most talented do-it-yourselfer cannot renovate her home without access to the tools to help her accomplish the task.

Similarly, without access to the resources needed to choose, apply for and pay for colleges — grants, loans, college visits, references and the like — even great students can find themselves locked out of the process. Even the best and most dedicated guidance counselors in high schools cannot always overcome high hurdles some students face — especially those struggling against their own socio-economic barriers.

The ACCESS College Foundation was formed to help give those students the tools they need to pursue the college opportunities they might otherwise miss. During 12 years of the program’s existence in Suffolk, ACCESS has helped more than 3,300 high school seniors find the money to attend college, and it has provided immeasurable help with everything from completing long applications to helping students visit college campuses they might otherwise not have been able to see.

The foundation honored its Suffolk donors on Wednesday in a special program at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, and the occasion served as an opportunity to announce a $250,000 donation from Birdsong Corp. that will help bring the organization’s services to King’s Fork High School on a full-time basis. If all goes as officials hope it will, Lakeland High School will get its own full-time ACCESS counselor within the next year or two.

“I turned to ACCESS because I needed help,” Azana Carr, a King’s Fork High School senior, told the gathering on Wednesday. Carr said her father had surgery while she was in high school, and the resulting bills burdened the family’s finances. But her ACCESS advisor, Adrienne Miller, helped her apply for application fee waivers. Carr also went on two college visit trips with ACCESS. She is now considering a mass communications major at either Virginia Commonwealth University or the College of William & Mary.

Getting into a college requires good grades, a studious attitude and determination. But all those things are for naught without access to the tools needed for applying to the schools. ACCESS is a great program for helping a group of students that might otherwise miss some tremendous opportunities.