To whomever it may concern, I would appreciate if you consider all aspects of my situation when reviewing me for financial aid. Although the tax forms you review state that the household income is a decent amount of money, the majority of that money comes from my step parent. Since I have started my college career I am used to getting close to no financial aid because of this. I have grown up the majority of my life from age two being raised by my single mother with no child support and her income of less than 20,000 a year. This case remains the same today, even though she has married, I don’t receive a penny of the money earned from my step parent. Ever since I was of age to work at 15 years old I have worked very hard, about 30 hours a week, while attending …show more content…
On top of the stress of finding the money I need to fund my tuition, This past year my step sister moved into the house with us and made the living conditions of my house nearly impossible to deal with. Having Bipolar issues along with a very severe drug problem and refusal to listen to any authority, she nearly divorced my mom and her husband and drove me out of the house. I spent about a month going between houses of my dad, grandparents, and friends nearly living out of my car and fighting with my parents constantly because she was uncontrollable. Throughout all of this it was close to impossible to ever focus on my school work, for awhile I became very depressed and unmotivated to do anything, but I still pulled through and made sure my grades stayed at mostly A’s. Although my living conditions are better now than they were, they’re not perfect, but I would like you to know that I take my studies very seriously and am very passionate for wildlife and biology, and learning how I can make an impact in wildlife
If you think your educational expenses are more than you and your family can afford, you should apply for financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You will need to apply for financial aid every year by completing a FAFSA. The FAFSA includes all the information necessary to determine your eligibility and must be completed if you want to be considered for any of the federal programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. The FAFSA is available in two formats: paper and electronic. If you complete a paper FAFSA, you will mail it directly to the application processor listed on the FAFSA. Or you can apply online at www.fafsa.ed.gov and list school code will receive your processed information.
I work a part time-job to assist my mother who was laid off work 7 month ago. I help pay the rent, food, car insurance etc. I have two younger siblings who are in school. I am the oldest in the family. We have no relatives to support us therefore I take my full responsibility of my family financial stability with no help what so ever. I have been praying to god that everything would work out for me and my family and it has so far up until now because now that I am so close to being the first in my family to attend college and get a degree. I thought of taking a break this semester to assist my family needs, but my mother didn’t let me do so. I am here to achieve better things in life and I won’t back down no matter what obstacles lay head, but we all need a little help here and there to achieve greatness and here I’m asking Dr. Tanya Gorman Student Emergency Hardships, to help me cover for the two books that I need this semester in order to graduate this may.
Being a first-generation student has been life changing in so many ways. Applying for college wasn't the easiest thing to do for me considering that my parents did not attend college. To overcome the struggle, I had to reach out to various resources such as my friends who are currently attending a four year college. The most complicated part was completing the paperwork for the FAFSA. There are multiple documents that create a maze of paperwork that I had to work my way through to complete the FAFSA. One of the most nerve-racking parts of the process was not knowing for certain if I had completed all of the paperwork exactly as specified. The FAFSA was definitely the most challenging obstacle I had to overcome. My Freshman year of High School,
In today’s society, the cost of attending college to earn a degree continues to increase, which results in an increase in students needing financial aid. A determining factor in how much a student receives is dictated by the Earned Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is mandated by Congress as a part of the required Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that every student must fill out in order to apply to college. Steve Cohen, an Op-Ed Contributor to the New York Times and author of “A Quick Way to Cut College Costs” believes that the EFC is flawed in that it does not accurately depict how much a family can contribute to the cost of a student’s education. Cohen’s solution is for Congress and the President to drastically cut the EFC to realistically reflect the unequal rise in college tuition and average household income.
Single mothers also find that they often aren’t having their need met at their institutions. Despite the fact that student parents are more likely to receive federal tuition assistance in the form of Pell Grants than non-parents, (43 percent and 23 percent respectively) the average unmet financial need of student parents after all aid is still high. Single student parents have an average annual unmet need of $6,117 compared to $3,650 for non-parent students (Nelson,
When it comes to achieving success in the working industry and accomplishing a successful career an education is important. Getting a degree is essential to be successful. The issue is the higher the education the person wants the higher the cost is. Nowadays, not everyone can afford paying out of pocket for an education, which mean that students are forced to take out large amount of student loans to achieve that degree. Student debt is an ongoing problem, students are gaining oversized debts that most of the time if not ALL are defaulting and jeopardizing future credits. How much debt it too much debt? Everyone should have the liberty to
The federal government should change its financial aid policies to take several more factors, such as the percentage of educational expenses paid by the student, into account. Under the current system, all students applying for federal aid file a form called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This form is meant to figure out the amount of money a family is able to shell out for an education, or the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Assuming the student does not qualify for independent status, both the expected contributions from the student and the parents are included in the EFC. In order for a student to get independent status, you have to be married or over the age of twenty-four.
My transition to college was successful, but it was nonetheless one of the most stressful times in my life. Unlike many of my peers at Saint Louis University, my rural high school experience did not truly prepare me for the academic rigors of college. Despite extensive preparation, I performed rather poorly on the first round of exams. While I didn’t fail any particular exam, my performance was seriously lacking. I knew that getting C’s on exams would not serve me well in the pursuit of my dream of becoming a physician. I remember feeling, for the first time in my life, that I was unintelligent and incompetent. I was also heavily fatigued from the excessive hours of studying, which I felt were necessary to reconcile the problem. I managed to
Lifting my heavy head with eyes half asleep off of my comfortable and plush pillow I see 7:20am with the date of August 25th on my phone screen. The second day of classes is now upon me, trying to adjust not only to a new semester at school but also to living away from home, with strangers now known as roommates, and as a transfer student. Starting school has never felt this way, living in a brand new environment with my mom not being there to make me breakfast and to encourage me saying “Have a great first day, I know you’ll do great!” I was now one among the thousands of people that have worked so hard towards attending this prestigious University and some that were thousands of miles away from their homes and families.
Every year, thousands of students and families let financial aid myths and misconceptions stop them from applying for financial aid.
I am a rising sophomore at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I am majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Psychology with a goal of becoming an oncologist. Education and extraCurricular activities play a significant role in my life. Receiving tuition waiver will contribute to my both academic and career goals. Tuition waiver will allow me to continue my education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Tuition waiver will impact me in several ways, such as academics, involvement, and Honors college experience.
As a first generation college student, we tend to be in need of financial assistance in order to attend college. Scholarships and financial aid would be of great assistance in supporting my goal for higher education, I noticed the only way out of poverty from a single family with low income is to pursuing higher education and obtain a skilled job. Although my father has made many sacrifices to allow me to focus on education throughout high school, but college is just a new level of challenge on financial need ever since my grandma were diagnosed with cancer. She is a strong old lady that never give up fight cancer throughout the past five years, and she taught me never give
Starting college was not what I expected it to be. I have always been excited to go to college since I was little because I’ve always wanted to get a degree that could help people, animals, and the environment. I did not expect my Freshman year of college to turn out the way it did. I knew there would be challenges, but I did not expect that there would be so many large emotional valleys for me to overcome. I hoped the greatest challenges I would face were midterms and finals. I did not expect the great amount of loss I would experience which began the summer before my Freshman year. I had a bright start, I was looking forward to being a cheerleader at UMHB. I made lots of friends and I was able to go see my boyfriend whenever I wanted - what could go wrong?
It's been hard getting enough money for my classes and supplies, but some of the socioeconomic hardships I've gone through is having my mom getting laid off from her job, losing my stepdad along with our house. A few years ago my mom along with everyone else at the company she was working at got let go and had nowhere to work. My mom and stepdad got a house together, but he died about a year later and ever since then things have been hard for the both of us. Around the same time, her arthritis started getting worse so she had to make the decision to retire and my mom being the amazing person she is; did everything she could to keep the house. A few weeks later she was able to find a caregiving job, taking care of the elderly and I ended up
My sister married a Chinese American in China thirteen years ago, and she applied my parents to seek a better life in America. After my parents lived here for three years, I moved to from China and live with them. To peruse a better life, I need to adjust myself into American society, so I go to school to learn English. I try to finish my education goal and find a full-time job. Being at working class, I am working with the wage, and I can only support myself for rent and food. However, I cannot to afford the university tuitions, so I revive financial aid from