Am I Attending College

Besides graduating from college, being accepted into the Counseling program at NOVA Southeastern University was the greatest day of my life. I was on my way to a much greater success by working on my Master. Paying for college out of pocket was a struggle, but I understand that success comes with great sacrifices. However, I wouldn’t really call paying out of pocket for school a sacrifice, but rather an investment in my future and my family. My first semester went marvelous. I was motivated and enthusiastic about the courses. I must admit graduate school is much harder than I imagine, but I manage to make time for studying and ended making A’s in both of my classes, which I didn’t expect less than that. When the summer semester I arrived, I was as excited and motivated as my very first semester, aiming to make nothing less than an A grades. However, unexpectedly my world seemed to have turned upside down in a matter of time. My mother and I decided to take a week to go

I am a first-generation college student. My parents never got passed high school. They were both faced with hardship and had no choice but to get a job to deal with the responsibilities of home. My dad left India at the age of 16 to build a better life for himself and my mom in America. In my household, education has always been a priority. Since my parents have felt firsthand how life is like without a degree, they made it their mission to ingrain in us a value for education like no other. However, there have been many situations in which I have found myself lost and looking for answers about college. Sadly, by being a first-generation student, my parents could not help me. Not only could they not help me, but being the first to attend college

Graduating high school, I was decided as a Family Studies major with a track to Child Life at Towson University. Towson is an out of state school, meaning I pay a high rate for tuition as a student. I have had to take out many loans due to the hard times my family has had to endure. In today’s economy, no family has not felt the burden of the market crash and high rate of unemployment. My father’s business went into debt, and by my senior year of high school he was officially unemployed. This caused stress in the family, but my parents have both worked extremely hard to be able to take loans out for my college education, being so important to them.

Before the first year of college came around, I realized that I had a lot of leftover money that had to be paid after my scholarships, knowing that my parents had no money to offer I was frightened. I was shaken to the core, I realized that my dream of going to college could all be over in a matter of seconds. Soon, I stepped into the financial aid office with my parents on each side of me and hoping for the worst. I soon found out that I would be eligible to apply for loans, yet I realized that there was still money that wasn’t covered with my loans. The last option was parents loan, and I looked at my parents and without hesitation took the loan. This was my dream and my parents wanted me to strive and took on something that they didn’t have to. I know that I will have to pay them cent by cent, but I know I will be able to do it. My parents were able to help my dream become a reality. I have learned that I do not have to be scared that I need to look forward and be proud of what I have accomplished so far. As my father told me to keep my head held high because I deserve to be in school like everyone else that my money should not make me feel like I shouldn’t be here at

Being a woman, a first generation college student and growing up in a collectivist culture, I find it very difficult to pursue my education. In addition to this, there are always a lots of ups and downs when having a business in jewellery industry. This has made it very difficult for my parents to afford my tuition. As a result, I have been taking 12 credits every term and this has been affecting my graduation plan. In order to finish my degree on time, I started taking courses at Portland Community College for which I try paying the tuition out of my pocket from my part time job.

My parents raised me to believe in the importance of education. After completing his 2nd year of college, my dad had no other option but to drop out. His dream of becoming an engineer would never come true and his struggles to make a living began. My parents gave up their ambitions in order for me to have my own. They always strived to ensure me of a proper education that’d empower me to be whoever or whatever I aspired to be. I want to pursue a degree at Georgia Tech because the highly acclaimed academics, renowned research facilities, and exceptional staff the university offers will bring me a step closer to my dreams: to be the first person in my family not only to earn a 4-year degree, but to also be an engineer. That’s my parents’ dream,

Despite my father’s business, my parents have always expected me to contribute financially to my education and that has given me a much greater appreciation for the opportunities that college provides. As a political science major, I often receive skeptical

First, let me justify why my desires for college are so big. My father was raised in Mexico, a known poor country. He had to quit high school to help provide for his family, something he constantly reminds my sister and me of when we grumble about school. He works so many hours to make sure we have a good private school education and everything we need. In the few past months, I

Neither of my parents went to college, my father works multiple jobs, and my mother suffers from MS, a degenerative neurological disease. Attending school at a university would have been impossible if it hadn’t been for one of my favorite high school teachers, who helped my raise my ACT score and taught me how to find and apply for scholarships. To quote the hit musical (and one of my personal favorites) Hamilton, I wrote my way out. I wrote over 30 scholarship essays and managed to earn enough money to finally get out of the tiny town I had grown up in. Because I have been afforded this wonderful college experience by people who believe in me and trust in my abilities to do well in school, I passionately squeeze every drop of experience out of each moment I spend here at K-State, whether that means staying up all night to study for an exam or eating four blueberry opal donuts at

No matter how challenging the obstacles may be that venture in my path, my determination and drive to excel in all endeavors is by far my strongest attribute. Being the first member in my family to attend a 4-year university is an honor nonetheless, but it comes with a great deal of financial sacrifice. As I prepare to start my sophomore year of college as a full time student studying criminal justice, I am beset by the reality of the massive amount of debt in which I will eventually bury my mother. As a single mother, it is hard enough to try to make ends meet, but to pay for college is a whole other beast to defeat. Although it is upsetting to witness the way tuition greatly increases every year, it is well out of my character to fathom the

When it came time to start thinking about college, I had no one in my family to get guidance from, and navigating the application process was not easy. I relied heavily on my overburdened high school counselor and on my community college counselor to help make sense of everything. Along the way, I made mistakes – SATs, scholarships, loans, transcripts and college essays made the path to higher education incredibly challenging. A less driven,

There are some financial challenges that I will face with my new educational opportunities. Since I am about to finish Dual-Graduation, I have already had to pay full college tuition, books, and gas to drive to school. These expenses are worsened because of my high school status; I can’t receive financial aid. With this road-block, I have been working part-time in Branson as a photographer to help pay school expenses. I am extremely thankful that my parents have aided in my tuition. Unfortunately, my father is in school to earn his master’s and my mother is going to beauty school, so I’m not the only person in my household who will have student debt. Normally this wouldn’t have been an issue but my mother lost her job last fall and so my family’s

After graduating high school from Northside College Prep in 2015, ranked the number one school in the state, I had high hopes of entering straight into a 4-year university and getting the typical college experience. Even though many of my classmates were still unsure of their desired program, I always knew. All throughout high school even, I knew I wanted to pursue criminal justice. What started as an obsession with over-exaggerated TV crime dramas turned into a passion for true crime documentaries and books. Once college admissions were revealed, I was eager to begin my new journey. Although I was lucky enough to be awarded some merit-based scholarships and offered loans, the aid was ultimately not enough for me to attend UIC like I was hoping, and it seemed my dream was just a little farther from my grasp. As much as I wanted to go to college and get a higher education, I knew I realistically could not afford a 4-year university at the time. I decided on registering at my nearby city college, Truman, in hopes of receiving my associates degree first and one day being able to transfer into UIC as I had been hoping. Lucky enough for me, I had someone at home who had gone through a

For as long as I can remember I have dreamed of being the first person in my family to go to college and receiving a degree. The older I got the more I realized it wasn’t just as simple as going to any college I wanted, there are many factors that come into play when making such a major decision. The biggest issue for me was the financial aspect, hearing horror stories of people leaving school with mountains of debt didn’t sound appealing to me and I knew I didn’t want that, so I set out to figure a way to get an education without being buried in debt.

One October day during my junior year of high school, I came home to see my parents anxiously waiting for me behind the kitchen counter. They informed me that my dad had lost his job. My initial worries, although selfish, surrounded what this change would mean for my college education. Without an income, the burden of college would fall solely on my shoulders. Thankfully, seven months later, my dad accepted an offer in a competitive position at a company on the other side of the state. As soon as he accepted this position, he guaranteed a move in the near future.