They Were Not Choices at All
Although I was not hurting for money, I felt a lot of pressure to say about what I could to help my family fly over from Los Angeles for my graduation. My grandma had attended college but she had to drop out to support her family, and my mother never even finished high school, so graduating from college meant a lot and I wanted my family to come to New Haven to celebrate our collective accomplishment. But with a full course load, sustaining three jobs and other responsibilities was simply not possible and I fell apart and was academically withdrawn in December of that year.
When I think back about my choices in the fall 2013, I realize that they weren't choices at all but rather the best I could do with a context largely shaped by Yale's unfair financial aid policies. To put it in perspective I imagine what that context would have looked like if I had not had to pay a student income contribution or summer income contribution for my freshman, sophomore, or junior year. Although it's too late for my case I think of all the other classes on financial aid who's context could be drastically different next year and in the future.
When Yale accepted us as high school seniors, they communicated that we all had something to contribute to the university. Why are the students on financial aid like myself, expected to contribute an extra $6,000 a year in the form of the student and summer income contribution?
When I think back about my choices in the fall 2013, I realize that they weren't choices at all but rather the best I could do with a context largely shaped by Yale's unfair financial aid policies. To put it in perspective I imagine what that context would have looked like if I had not had to pay a student income contribution or summer income contribution for my freshman, sophomore, or junior year. Although it's too late for my case I think of all the other classes on financial aid who's context could be drastically different next year and in the future.
When Yale accepted us as high school seniors, they communicated that we all had something to contribute to the university. Why are the students on financial aid like myself, expected to contribute an extra $6,000 a year in the form of the student and summer income contribution?
