Growing up in a household sustained solely by one parent’s income was always challenging. My mother earned a decent wage, but my stepfather worked in an auto detailing shop, which was nowhere near lucrative in rainy Washington State. I only became cognizant of my family’s financial standing when it came to discuss financing college. Unlike most of my other friends, my parents didn’t have a college savings account waiting for me and they didn’t have the funds that would be needed to pay my quarterly tuition. This matter-of-fact conversation occurred in 2008, during my Junior Year of high school, and it was extremely disheartening. This issue was exacerbated by the fact that my parents’ joint annual income fell right above qualifying for Federal
When I was a freshman in high school, my parents sat me down in the living room and told me that if I wanted to go to college, I’d have to pay for it myself. Our financial difficulties were large enough to merit the statement. My step-dad was hardly able to work anymore because of health problems from a career in manufacturing. My mom also suffered in the over-saturated market for dental hygienists in Mesa—she was recently fired from a corporate office for refusing to sell unnecessary treatments to patients, and could only find a job in an office run by an abusive dentist who screamed at his employees and who even threw a computer at an assistant at one point. My mom needed to leave the office, but nobody knew if she would find work anywhere
In today's generation college students struggle to attend higher education. Tuition has been higher than ever before to attend college. This is true, college students battle to go to college. A book that I read "They Say, I say" mentions, "many families are indeed struggling, in depths of recession, to pay for their children's college eduction." (Sanford, 191). Paying for college funds affect families as well as the student.
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.
The general culture of this company is very, very lax. At least, that’s what I got. I’m sure higher up is more professional. They attire that Anna wore made me feel like I could wear anything and get away with it. I started out very professional and turned into just look nice (ish). Its collaborative within departments, but there some communication problems. Apparently someone took Kailin and Anna’s ideas a couple of times. I’m not sure about that but I smile and nod. Really that’s how I get by smile and nod.
Neither of my parents attended college nor did they finish high school. My family is a one-person income family. I had to get a job to help pay for my expenses because my parents cannot afford to pay for everything. I use the money I earn to pay for my gas, my phone bill, and my other living expenses. Even when my parents can not afford to pay for something my younger siblings want, I pay for it. My parents will not even be able to help pay for my college. The reason for them not being able to pay for my college is because they have two children going to college this year.
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
I believe that every person should have the opportunity to go to college in order to thrive. However, a lot of kids decide not to because of the issue I am also facing, finances. I do have a job, but after bills are paid, not much is left over. I have to give my dad money every month for my car insurance and my mom money for my phone bill. This past year has been incredibly difficult on my parents. My father had an extreme cut in his work hours by almost 20 hours per week. This has created an extreme burden on my family. My mother and father did not have the opportunity to go to college themselves, simply because they could not afford it. My mom is an LNA at summer crest and has a low salary, due to only being able to be part time. My father is a steel maker at Rugers, and due
My family, like many other middle-class families, do not have $20,000 of expendable resources to pay for college for my sister and I. The only way I will be able to afford college is if I receive enough scholarships to cover nearly all the tuition. Our education system and the amount of money necessary to pay for a bachelor’s degree has put financial stress on my parents and have caused me to overextend myself in school and community involvement in hopes of attracting scholarship committees to decide I am deserving of the money they are giving. Education is important because it allows college graduates to obtain stable jobs.
While, my family is fully able to pay for my college, I also have two sisters whose college tuition will need to be paid for in the next several years and I prefer smaller institutions, which tend to be more expensive. I believe I will be provided with a more in-depth and personally tailored education at a smaller university. My family and I have also come a long way in the past 17 years. My mother married into an abusive relationship when she became pregnant with my older sister then divorced in 2005; unknowing leaving my sisters and I to deal with parental abuse. During her time away from us, she accepted herself and her sexual orientation despite social constructs in our home state of Alabama. Through many custody battles, which lasted
Families are now aiming low when it comes to college- or are simply not going at all. Money could play a huge part in this decision- after all, the cost of college has skyrocketed over the years, and so has the amount of student loan debt. This is something even Leonhardt admits, stating that, because of this, only about 33 percent of young adults get a four-year college degree today, while another 10 percent receive a two-year degree (Leonhardt). And even though many colleges offer financial aid packages, that money may soon be cut and the cost of college will continue to grow. It is true that, in my personal experience, just because a student is awarded financial aid does not mean they have a golden ticket to University. This leaves many desperate students the only option of taking out as many loans as they think they can handle- often more than they should. Debt is not a new issue for America, but it is still a problem. Although David Autor, an M.I.T. economist, laments: “not sending [young adults] to college would be a disaster”, no one can ignore the rising rates of loan defaults, and some think it
I have come to the understanding that, as we progress in age, summer is no longer viewed in terms of vacation, but rather a chance for young adults to glimpse into the ‘real world’ of constant work and exhaustion. The cost of college education has made it difficult to enjoy the beauty of summer, and instead forces us to focus on the pressure of student loans. It is because of this that I have spent my past few summers indoors beneath the florescent lights of Younkers in the wonderful world of retail. However, as the past semester came to an end, I decided that this summer would be different.
“I'm going to pay for your school” is the phrase that changed my entire outlook on life. I will be honest, I am a cynical person. It was safe to say that I assumed the universe hated me. I was stuck in a dead-end job working minimum wage with no place to go and no one to help me out of the ditch I was in until that day.
For the past four years, the stress of applying to college has been affecting me along with hundreds of thousands of other students. Trying to prepare for college is like studying for a test that you don’t know the subject of. It seems that everyone I talk to has a different opinion on which colleges to apply to and what I need to do with my life. Being that there are such a diverse array of beliefs on the topic, I chose to mostly ignore any advice given to me. That being said, I couldn’t ignore the article I read two years ago analyzing the necessity of college, or rather, the lack of it. It stated that with the expanse of knowledge available through other sources such as the internet, the cost of college is not worth the educational benefit. Now, simply choosing to rid myself of the stress of college seemed like a great idea at the time, but
I've been working since the day I turned 16 to help pay for college, in fact, each week I put aside a portion of my paycheck to go towards my tuition. I've also filled out many scholarships over this past year so, I'll be able to attend Mid-Plains next fall. I plan to continue working over the summer and hopefully by the first semester I'll have enough to cover a majority of the expenses for
Like many undocumented families in the the United States, my family has had our share of financial struggles. My mother is unemployed and raising four kids. My father is the only one who is employed in my family; he works as a construction worker at an annual income of about $26,000 tight budget . Despite the financial challenges that my family and I face, we live comfortably. We may not live in the most luxurious or healthiest place in the world but it is this neighborhood that built my personality and my perspective of the world. The first thing that comes up to mind is,”How am I going to afford a higher education?” I will rely heavily on financial aid and may have to pick up a part time job to cover the rest of tuition cost. I am looking forward to college and will not allow my financial situation stop me in my pursuit of higher education.