The Fate Of My Future

My mother worked day and night so I had to care for my sister and cousins. On some occasions I had to help my mom clean houses to earn money. At the age of thirteen up until I was sixteen I was cleaning houses for the people we longed to be. I got a glimpse of a life I have never known. For the most part my mom’s boss was nice, but her family was ignorant at times. They would ask me where I have traveled and if I’ve been to all these kinds of expensive places. When I answered no they asked why not. I guess they didn’t comprehend the fact that my mom and I were cleaning their dishes and making their beds for less than the minimum wage to be able to barely afford the rent of the small room we all

Introduction: 5 a.m. The alarm clock rings, on a normal day you would dread waking up so early. But today, is not your normal average day. Monday, August 21st, 2017, is the beginning of your first day of a new journey of college as a freshman; the nerves of the unknown lingers on as you sat in the classroom, awaiting your professor arrival. Suddenly, the door swung open and a tall, muscular, Caucasian male walked in, commanding the class attention by his demeanor. The nervousness intensifies as he proceeded to call on the attendance. This is it people! the moment everyone, including your family, have been waiting for; first-generation of your lineage to attend college. Name by name each student signified their attendance by raising their right arm when called upon, but, there’s a problem, your name was not called on. What? How can it be? There’s no way! you are overcome with complete and absolute shock; realizing you’ve been dropped from your classes due to financial aid issue. To continue enrolling, you would have to pay out of pocket. The excitement that was there before, no longer remains. Countless number of young adults are overwhelmed with the reality of college and paying for an education. For many students, each year, they are the recipient of such a catastrophic experience. Unfortunately, I was the victim of this heart-rending incident; imagine a society where financial aid and student loans did not exist, but instead, the necessity of these financial programs would diminish because college tuition would be free.

It was normal day like any another when I received my financial aid package from college. I remember the excitement that came with being one step further on the path to my life. And just as clearly, I can remember the sinking feeling I got in my stomach when I looked at my financial aid package. This was the first time in my life I had thought I might not go to college. After thought about education, experience, and money, I came to that college is worth the debt that may be incurred.

When people hear the word “college”, many panic inside at the thought. But, when I hear the word “college” I think about Illinois State University. In early July, I attended an Open House at ISU for my very first official college visit. As I stepped onto campus, I couldn’t but help to feel like it was my future home. Many aspects of the tour made me draw nearer to choosing this college after finishing my High School career. Illinois State University seems to fit my personality very well, has an amazing program for what I want to study, and is an outstanding campus for my academic strengths and weaknesses.

During high school, I struggled to maintain my grades and focus. I was in a small town, and every ounce of opportunity seemed to slowly be sucked away from the town as the years past with the aid of the downward economic spiral beginning. I felt, like many of my fellow classmates, that opportunity had passed us by. I didn’t dare conjure even the thought of attending Eastern; it would’ve been too similar to the

Following my undergraduate degree, I plan on attending medical school and specializing in pathology to become a forensic pathologist for the FBI. Another option I am currently considering is minoring in Animal Science and pursuing a graduate degree in Zoology and Primatology. Since I am an out-of-state student with three brothers who have graduated or plan on attending college, the looming idea of the mass amounts of student loans I may accumulate is terrifying, but I am very grateful to be where I am today. I felt such a great catharsis upon receiving my current four-year scholarship to UTK as it meant all of the work my parents and I put in was finally going to pay off because not only was I going to college, I was going to my dream school with the best Anthropology department in the country. Any extra assistance available I vowed I would do anything it takes to get the degree and profession I loved, from interning at the FAC and an upcoming field-site research opportunity over spring break to scholarships because the chance to study where we came from evolutionarily to where we may go is too amazing to pass

In the fall of 2015, my twin sister and I started at Texarkana College. With the help of Texarkana College’s Presidential scholarship, we were financially able to set out to be the first in our family to graduate college. With finances always being a family struggle I grew

When I first starting thinking about colleges, I figured that I had plenty of time to find a suitable one and apply. However, to my dismay, I soon realized that not only was the application process long and confusing, but it also cost a lot back then. Because of my busy schedule, when I discovered how time-consuming and expensive college was, I almost gave up looking entirely. I was just about ready to throw in the towel and find a suitable part time job and work my way up from there. Just when I felt I was getting overwhelmed, I took a break from college admissions for a while, and later picked them back up again. Little did I know that later in 2017, I would be accepted into ASU and successfully earn a bachelor’s degree in

One of the key components in higher education enrollment management in a public, four-year university is the admissions process. With encouragement from many sources such as friends, family, and college marketing materials, high school juniors and seniors apply and enroll in college by the thousands each year (McDonough, 1994). College choice is greater now than twenty years ago, but finding the right fit for each potential student is harder due to increased college entrance standards and intense competition between institutions. Applicants now are more likely to apply to many more institutions than previous generations, yet still only attend

I’ve faced many obstacles as I have furthered my education such as choosing whether to drop an honors class and switch to a college prep course instead, or dropping an orchestra class to pick up a second health science course to ensure a chance to get into the CNA class my senior year; but the easiest part of my senior year has been deciding on going Lander University, home of the Bearcat. I had taken a tour of the university once during my eleventh grade year I wasn’t so sure; however when I went back to tour it one last time on September 24th, 2016 it felt different. I had this feeling that this is where I was meant to be. As if I had found a new home for the next four years as I began my next journey of obtaining my BSN in nursing.

Attending the University of Michigan is, without a doubt, one of the best decisions I have ever made. My classes have forced me to grow as a student and have undoubtedly presented an intellectual challenge that I had not previously experienced in my academic career; however, when choosing where to pursue my bachelor’s degree, I did not initially evaluate the financial cost that this would place upon both my parents’ and my shoulders. Between my sister, a recent University of Michigan graduate, and I both attending this institution as out of state students, you can imagine the collective financial strain that this has placed upon all of our shoulders. If you add on the cost of my aspirations for medical school, the cost of my higher education

After visiting the University of St. Thomas, I was mesmerized by it’s beautiful campus, friendly community, and comfortably sized classrooms. I had no doubt in my mind that the University of St. Thomas was the school that I wanted to attend. But after talking it over with my parents, they were hesitant to approve my decision of picking St. Thomas as my path for the next four years of my life because of the overwhelming cost of attendance.

When my Lawrenceville admission letter arrived in my mailbox early March, I was suffering from stomach butterflies and tremors purely because of my excitement. And when that fateful letter congratulated me for my acceptance, I nearly broke a hole through my house ceiling in celebration. The letter entailed me to view an email which contained my financial aid grant, which covered all costs for me boarding there, which surely made my mother happy. However, I then realized that my generous financial aid package would mark me up

When I was growing up, I remember my family situation as extremely chaotic. I was one of eight children and my father and mother had little time to devote to me individually. Most of the time they spent trying to earn enough to support us with their meager resources. I was often called upon to act as a surrogate mother to my siblings. I felt I had little time to develop my own unique perspective and voice when I was very young. Even as a preschooler I remember doing chores to help out at home. However, this situation did foster some positive aspects of my character. I learned to be mature at an early age and gained a sense of competence because of my responsibilities. But I also was taught put the needs of others second to my own. I feel that I did not learn to value my own, legitimate desires to an adequate degree as a young girl and have only recently acquired a true sense of worth [THESIS].

This was the overall feeling when meeting the staff at Everest. The classrooms were pristine. The hallway walls were littered with snap shots of successful students and lists of companies hungry for newly trained graduates. Yet, there were no students. The place was a ghost town. I could sense that something was not right. After the tour, Nancy invited me into her office to chat about my career choice, which she thought was wrong. She convinced me I would be better in the medical field by boasting about how intelligent I appeared, and she knew I was going to be exceptionally successful in the medical assistant program. She was sure to inform me that if I struggled, it would not be a problem because they had a very maternal staff whose main concern was—me. At this point, I was ready to sign on the dotted line and asked how much tuition would cost. It was almost as if the room dropped when Nancy placed the financial papers in front of me. Even with a five- thousand five-hundred dollar FAFSA grant, it would be impossible for me to afford to go to Everest. Nancy did not see my disappointment as a problem; she ushered me to the financial aide office and shut the door. I was trapped, and within a few minutes I was presented with a foolproof plan. Simply sign here and you can have a loan for over thirty thousand dollars, no problem. My saving grace, I did not pass the credit check.