Start-up Funds and a Stipend
My father didn’t really want me to go to Yale. We had two options—merit or financial aid. In high school I performed academically on par with the middle class kids and thus hung out with them, and our financial situation inevitably cropped up sometimes. In college, he wanted me to be at the top, not the bottom.
I didn’t have the kind of scores or resume to get into an Ivy League–type school. Where I come from, if you don’t have a car, you need your parents to drive you to extracurriculars and SAT tests. We were often frantic and had other priorities, so I took the SATs once, the latest for which I could get the scores in before my earliest deadline. I realized I wasn’t ready to give up my childhood far-off dream of going to an Ivy just yet.
Thankfully, I got into Yale. I also got into a state school with a full ride. With that, I would have had start-up funds and a stipend. Yale had a student income contribution.
This presented the problem of getting work over the summer. My father’s job situation is unstable and he had to take what he could get. I couldn’t plan around his schedule and he couldn’t plan around mine. Even if I did manage to find a job that would work, there were so many expenses: books, travel, health insurance, a laptop.
Over the summer I had questions about financial aid. I tried emailing the financial aid office about it but they weren’t very helpful. They wanted to speak to my dad, but I couldn’t make him deal with this. I had chosen Yale and it was my burden to bear.
I did find a job that would work, but it wasn’t ideal. The guys made me pretty uncomfortable sometimes (continuous, egregious catcalling… not that bad, dropping out from the middle of a conversation and ignoring you to ogle women…. not fun at times; unwanted attention, pretty bad). I kept most of the details hidden from my dad, of course. He would have had me out of there in two seconds flat.
When I went to the financial aid office a few months into the year to work out a loan for the small amount I owed due to hospitalization insurance (which doesn’t cover vision or dental by the way—I just go without them for now), I got a little bit teary-eyed. Even small loans worried me. The lady working there looked through something in the computer and eventually told me that due to my family’s income status, I should have been awarded a start-up stipend with my original financial aid award. Someone forgot, I guess?
For some people, a two-parent family is the norm. For us, a one-parent family is the norm. My biological mother isn’t a part of my life and hasn’t been within my memory. Due to our family situation it was difficult to find someone to provide proof of this, and frankly the process brought up unneeded distress. Yale shouldn’t make their students provide proof that noncustodial parents aren’t a part of the students’ lives.
I don’t want to work 10–15 hours a week. Last semester, I wanted to keep it down for the first semester so I only did around eight. I also chose a job that doesn’t pay me to do homework, which was probably stupid, but I was super excited about working in a real scientific laboratory. I’d like to get heavily involved in an extracurricular activity, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to manage the time.
I also don’t want to move off-campus in future years because I want to be a Yalie and live the Yale experience, or at least the college experience, but it will probably be more practical monetarily.
When Yale calculates traveling expenses, they only include two trips a year. They should really include more—travel is expensive, and family is important.
I didn’t have the kind of scores or resume to get into an Ivy League–type school. Where I come from, if you don’t have a car, you need your parents to drive you to extracurriculars and SAT tests. We were often frantic and had other priorities, so I took the SATs once, the latest for which I could get the scores in before my earliest deadline. I realized I wasn’t ready to give up my childhood far-off dream of going to an Ivy just yet.
Thankfully, I got into Yale. I also got into a state school with a full ride. With that, I would have had start-up funds and a stipend. Yale had a student income contribution.
This presented the problem of getting work over the summer. My father’s job situation is unstable and he had to take what he could get. I couldn’t plan around his schedule and he couldn’t plan around mine. Even if I did manage to find a job that would work, there were so many expenses: books, travel, health insurance, a laptop.
Over the summer I had questions about financial aid. I tried emailing the financial aid office about it but they weren’t very helpful. They wanted to speak to my dad, but I couldn’t make him deal with this. I had chosen Yale and it was my burden to bear.
I did find a job that would work, but it wasn’t ideal. The guys made me pretty uncomfortable sometimes (continuous, egregious catcalling… not that bad, dropping out from the middle of a conversation and ignoring you to ogle women…. not fun at times; unwanted attention, pretty bad). I kept most of the details hidden from my dad, of course. He would have had me out of there in two seconds flat.
When I went to the financial aid office a few months into the year to work out a loan for the small amount I owed due to hospitalization insurance (which doesn’t cover vision or dental by the way—I just go without them for now), I got a little bit teary-eyed. Even small loans worried me. The lady working there looked through something in the computer and eventually told me that due to my family’s income status, I should have been awarded a start-up stipend with my original financial aid award. Someone forgot, I guess?
For some people, a two-parent family is the norm. For us, a one-parent family is the norm. My biological mother isn’t a part of my life and hasn’t been within my memory. Due to our family situation it was difficult to find someone to provide proof of this, and frankly the process brought up unneeded distress. Yale shouldn’t make their students provide proof that noncustodial parents aren’t a part of the students’ lives.
I don’t want to work 10–15 hours a week. Last semester, I wanted to keep it down for the first semester so I only did around eight. I also chose a job that doesn’t pay me to do homework, which was probably stupid, but I was super excited about working in a real scientific laboratory. I’d like to get heavily involved in an extracurricular activity, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to manage the time.
I also don’t want to move off-campus in future years because I want to be a Yalie and live the Yale experience, or at least the college experience, but it will probably be more practical monetarily.
When Yale calculates traveling expenses, they only include two trips a year. They should really include more—travel is expensive, and family is important.
