Adding to My Burden
My name is Jesse Opoku, and I am a sophomore in Silliman College. One of the reasons why I applied to Yale was because I thought that if I was accepted, I would have to pay very little - I didn’t want to put another financial burden on my mom, who already worked as many overtime shifts as she could to make ends meet for my sister and me. I will always remember how much my mother cried when she opened Yale’s financial aid package and saw that big zero in the parent contribution column; I had to pay about $2600 for the student contribution, but that was pennies compared to what I would have to pay otherwise.
I will always be grateful to Yale for the generous amount of financial assistance it offered me, and when I first arrived on campus, I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in the whole “Yale Experience” of joining multiple extracurricular activities, doing research on a variety of topics, and meeting amazing people. However, I quickly realized that for me, that “Yale Experience” would mostly be an unattainable goal. The student contribution serves as an active detriment to many students, particularly poor students of color, from really becoming a part of Yale.
When I applied to Yale, I knew that I would always have to work harder than most Yalies to get the same grade because of my high school’s poor academic background, and I was completely fine with that. My mother motivated me to do well in high school, and I was prepared to work even harder at Yale in order to make her proud. That proved to be much easier said than done, especially when I realized that I had to work over twenty hours each week just to cover the Student Contribution. I went to a bad high school, and I can’t blame Yale for the adversities I endured before enrolling here. However, I didn’t expect Yale to add to my burden. I spend so much time working to cover the student contribution that I can’t fully focus on my academics. While most students here can choose their classes based on their affinity for a particular subject or even when they like to wake up, I have to balance my schedule around the times when I’m not working.
I will always be grateful to Yale for the generous amount of financial assistance it offered me, and when I first arrived on campus, I couldn’t wait to immerse myself in the whole “Yale Experience” of joining multiple extracurricular activities, doing research on a variety of topics, and meeting amazing people. However, I quickly realized that for me, that “Yale Experience” would mostly be an unattainable goal. The student contribution serves as an active detriment to many students, particularly poor students of color, from really becoming a part of Yale.
When I applied to Yale, I knew that I would always have to work harder than most Yalies to get the same grade because of my high school’s poor academic background, and I was completely fine with that. My mother motivated me to do well in high school, and I was prepared to work even harder at Yale in order to make her proud. That proved to be much easier said than done, especially when I realized that I had to work over twenty hours each week just to cover the Student Contribution. I went to a bad high school, and I can’t blame Yale for the adversities I endured before enrolling here. However, I didn’t expect Yale to add to my burden. I spend so much time working to cover the student contribution that I can’t fully focus on my academics. While most students here can choose their classes based on their affinity for a particular subject or even when they like to wake up, I have to balance my schedule around the times when I’m not working.
