I feel as if people often overlook upper-middle class students in financial aid. They spend so much time bending over backwards to help people who have nothing -- and don't get me wrong, I think that's wonderful! I understand that I am in comparison a very fortunate person indeed and that there are people who are more deserving of help than I am -- but they pay no attention to those of us who may not come from impoverished families, but still need help.

My step-father is an ROTC instructor at a local private college (contracted through someone else, naturally, to keep his family from having any tuition breaks. Very sneaky, don't you think? I do too). He makes enough money that my mother only needs to work when she feels like it -- and she very rarely feels like it. Now, this keeps us afloat and groceries on the table with a little wiggle room for them to do the things they want to (like buy a ridiculously expensive RV which I have never seen), and I usually get some things I say that I would like for Christmas every year, but aside from not having to pay rent and Christmas gifts (most of which are practical in nature being that I know saving money I don't have to spend myself is a blessing in and of itself), I am expected to make my own way. This is hard for a multitude of reasons.

It's hard for a student to find jobs in a tourism-based area like mine. If you can't work at the drop of a hat, no one wants you. It's unfair, and it sucks, but to an extent, I can understand it. We are not by definition a "college town", and most college students from the area go to schools in other cities or states and so only need employment at home in the summer, if that (this can also be filed under "reasons why getting laid off before summer break sucks"). An employer in an all-year resort area like ours need people that they can count on at any time, and for students, that's a commitment that they can't make, particularly if they're like me and care very much about maintaining a 4.0 GPA, or if their health insurance requires them to be full-time students (and they can't find hourly work that provides insurance).

Car insurance for students is outrageous! I won't tell you what I pay, but it is absolutely insane (and yes, I did in fact shop around). Textbooks can cost a pretty penny too, even if you can find them significantly marked down -- and depending on your major, rentals aren't much cheaper.

Now, as of right now, I am still seeking gainful employment (the joy of layoffs), but let's say I were working now and I needed to buy my textbooks very soon (and I do). If I can manage to make $170.00 a week (please suspend your disbelief) for a month (four weeks), I'd have $680.00 before expenses. Minus, say, $200.00 for insurance, $100.00 in groceries for the month, $80.00 budgeted for gas ... that leaves me right at $300.00 to purchase my textbooks and supplies and have something ferreted away after (hopefully) in the emergency funds or to treat myself if I feel I deserve it.

Obviously, I am not exactly rolling in it. I'm making less than $10,000.00 per year at this hypothetical job. This does not include budgeting for potential doctor's visit co-pays, unexpected car repairs, or anything else you may need to prepare for. I can obviously not pay for my education out of my pocket! Were I living on my own I wouldn't even be able to afford to go to school, because I'd need to pay rent. In this town, that would probably leave me between $80.00 and $100.00 for everything else I needed depending on what part of town I was living in.

But I don't qualify for any grants or scholarships, either. My FAFSA reads that I have "no demonstrated financial need", because they seem to expect that anyone whose parents make the money mine do would be willing or able to help them. They're sadly mistaken, but until I turn 24, as far as financial aid has told me (and they haven't told me much), I've no choice but to take out loan after loan and hope nothing goes wrong.

As I'm pursuing my education up to the doctorate level, I will likely be in debt the rest of my life.

My background seems to have everything to do with what help I can get with my education. Not my academic ability or my attitude, and certainly not my integrity. They care about numbers, dollars and cents, not about how well a student performs.

I have a high GPA, I've barely ever missed a day of class and when I have, I still got an A in the class. It isn't as if I slack off like some scholarship recipients that I've met, who barely squeak by their requirements. How is it that "financial need" somehow grew to completely outweigh how hard a student works to deserve that scholarship? I qualify for nothing.

Call me crazy, but I find it quite an embuggerance.

Labels: associate's, fall 2010, financial aid

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Labels: associate's