Why I Committed To After High School

When I reached my senior year and submitted college applications for the first time I was hopeful that I would be able to reach my goal of going away to college. However, the schools to which I was admitted offered financial aid only in the form of parental loans which my parents cannot afford. I understand their predicament as they approach the age of retirement with little to their names. I decided to attend my current university because I could afford the tuition using financial aid and student loans given that I continued living at home.

The reasons I have decided to go back to school is because I want to further my education to better myself as a single mother, and I want to show my children that you should never give up on your goals no matter how challenging life can be. Also, I chose to go back to school so that I can boost my son's confidence level so when he does homework, I will be right by his side doing mines whether its researching, reading, or typing papers. My ultimate goal for using this degree is to receive additional pay through my employer once I have obtained my degree. Secondly, I want to expand my career in law

My mother worked four jobs at once to make financial ends meet, while always stressing the importance of education and financial independence to my brother and myself. My grandmother only achieved a second grade education due to the financial constraints on her family at a young age, but still in the end managed to make certain that of her children and grandchildren had what was needed to flourish and become successful, educated members of the community. The tenacity and history of these two women I still carry with me today. Their struggles have inspired to me to only want more from life, but also serve as a positive role model for the younger members of my community. I observed from other family members how an education can open a multitude of doors and opportunities. I want to make the biggest and most significant on my community and on my family as possible, and the only foreseeable path is to achieve a college education to gain the necessary skills, knowledge and connections needed to flourish and implement positive

Six years after graduating High School, I have finally decided to pursue a college education. Three, fairly common, factors played in to my decision to go back to school: learning new things, building confidence in myself and pursuing my desired career. I understand that graduating college is a difficult task, which is why I must make a plan for my success and stick to it. I must also rely on my personal strengths and my motivation to guide me through the tough times that I am sure to experience on my road to success to get my degree in Criminal Justice. I have always been a person who is eager to learn new things.

Choosing to attend college was a difficult choice, my mother is the only person in all of my family to ever attend and graduate college. My father and the rest of my family have all gone into trade work, some of them attending a trade school and some not. While all of my family does well and live a comfortable lifestyle. I have noticed through the years that my mother has always been employed even when others in my family have not and she always seems to have an easier time finding work. This is the main reasons I decided to attend college, with higher education often times comes more job security and stability. I decided to attend CU boulder specifically due to the fact that it is very close to home, as well as the fact that it is a very

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

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.

I have come from a struggling background. My parents never attended college and my mother has been the sole provider for my family for many years. I have watched her struggle trying to provide for us and I determined long ago that I would strive to do more for my future family than what she was able to give us. My dreams required that I attend college. It is because of the financial hardship my family faces every day that the financial burden that comes from attending college rests solely on my shoulders. Although I am employed, I do not make enough money to pay for the cost of living and my school expenses. My goal is to become an attorney and I do everything in my power to attain that goal. I excel in all of my classes and have become a leader on my campus and in my community. I rely on scholarships like the Silas Purnell Scholarship to recognize these attributes in me and with the help of this award I will be able to take my last step in my path of earning my baccalaureate degree and making my goals my

Life is all about choices, and the one choice I knew I wanted to make was to go to college and achieve my educational goals. Knowing that my family could not support my two older sister’s college endeavors let alone mine, I knew I had to act. Throughout my high school years, I applied myself constantly through taking challenging coursework and involving myself in clubs that I was passionate for. All of those years led me to overcome the biggest obstacle a senior student

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

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.

Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many

I grew up in a single-parent, low-income home outside of Santa Rosa, California. The idea of college wasn’t introduced to me until long after I had already become just another statistic. I dropped out of high school when I was 17, in the midst of a teenage rebellion, thinking I already knew everything and didn’t need anyone’s help. I left home, got a job at a fast food restaurant, and stayed with friends off and on until I realized that maybe I didn’t know everything quite yet. After a severe reality check, I found a sense of responsibility that encouraged me to get my G.E.D and find a great job. I was very determined to take everything I learned as a child and use it as a what-not-to-do guide. By the time I was 19, I bought my first house and quickly realized I could either set limitations with excuses or achieve goals with endurance. The

Applying and figuring out to how to pay for college was something I did with no help because my parents never went to college but my motivation and drive pushed me to make my dreams come to true and I am currently a student at Rutgers University - New Brunswick Campus. My motivation to succeed at study is my immigrant parents who left everything they knew to give me the future they knew they would never have.As the oldest of six my motivation is my family and their struggles. I motivate myself to do the very best I can to ensure that I give myself and parents a better life, a life they could have never imagined. My parents came from Palestine, a third world country and they currently i na first world country still so poor they cannot afford

I am a daughter of a father who migrated from Sierra Leone with nothing but a suitcase, opportunity and a high school degree. I am a daughter of a mother who struggled to finish high school and she never went back to school for her college degree. I am a sister of four brothers: 1 didn’t graduate from high school, 1 graduated from high school but never pursued a college degree, 1 enlisted in the army and went to college for chemistry and the last one struggled in college for 6 years because of his learning disability. I am Gonto Robinson, a senior, psychology and nursing major, and I will graduate a year and a half late in order to pursue two degrees. Staying in school and pursuing a higher education wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for my family and teachers in high school.