The Village Idiot Strikes Again!
Jul. 28th, 2006 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseDoes everyone remember this dude? The one who wrote the letter to the paper that was quite literally singing Bush's praises? Yeah. He's jumping on another subject, with equally misinformed enthusiasm.
I am writing in response to the letter to the editor, "Why aren't there more scholarships, grants?" published July 26. Well if the student has $1,600 to pay for rent, that means she or he is living a well-to-do lifestyle.
I remember when I went to college. I had many difficulties - no money for food or a nice car - but I managed to finish my Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees with all the difficulties. I also did not have money to buy expensive clothing, so I wore the same clothes all week and had to work two jobs to support my brother, while attending school in New York.
People do not realize that part of attending college is to sacrifice many things in life - for example, a cell phone, a car, new clothes and expensive apartments. Please get real, as you stated you already got three scholarships, student loans and Pell grants - that should be enough.
There are many ways to finance education, such as working while attending school and using public transportation. Also, here in Juneau we have public housing to meet the needs of our Juneau residents. Finally, please do not complain, because we do have many scholarships and grants to go to school. You are just abusing the system.
Coming recently from the land of broke-student-ness (and being hopped up on a double shot mocha this morning), you can imagine that this got me well and truly pissed off. So, as people who know me might guess, I decided to write back.
This letter is in response to Mr. Velazquez's opinion about scholarships, and what constitutes "enough" money for students going to school.
Mr. Velazquez, I very recently spent three and a half years in college, two of which were here at UAS. During this entire time, I had no cell phone, no new clothes, and no fancy apartment (I lived in campus housing, which is not particularly nice at all, especially when one's roommates never clean). I took public transportation for the majority of that time, and only was able to buy a ten-year-old car by the grace of my relatives, because that year I had two evening classes downtown, after the buses quit running. During all that time I worked various jobs, but because I didn't have a flexible schedule and could only work part time, my choices were mostly limited to low-paying campus jobs, which barely paid enough money to live on.
How did I get through this period without ending up in serious debt? I was fortunate enough to have a mother who was able and willing to pay for campus housing, which came to over $2000 a semester. I was responsible for the costs of tuition, books, food, etc.; these very basic necessities came to over $3000 per semester. These I managed to finance through a series of good-paying summer jobs that I was lucky enough to find, my PFD, and my job at the campus library. Even between all of these, I had little enough money for necessities and none for the luxuries you mentioned.
Children who are not as lucky as me – those who don't have a parent or relatives to help – are faced with two choices: Either get loans and suffer enormous financial setbacks at the very beginning of their careers, or skip college altogether. Shouldn't children who come from poorer families have the same opportunities as those who come from rich ones? $1,250 a semester is not enough money to attend any college, even the relatively inexpensive ones here in Alaska. If we were truly serious about investing in our children's education (as President Bush says) we would put a lot more government money into scholarships and grants.
Maybe sticking that last bit about Bush in there was a cheap shot, given his previous letter, but the hypocrisy really gets me angry...
ETA: That's it, no more reading the paper after coffee. I'm really so mad I could eviscerate someone. =/
I am writing in response to the letter to the editor, "Why aren't there more scholarships, grants?" published July 26. Well if the student has $1,600 to pay for rent, that means she or he is living a well-to-do lifestyle.
I remember when I went to college. I had many difficulties - no money for food or a nice car - but I managed to finish my Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees with all the difficulties. I also did not have money to buy expensive clothing, so I wore the same clothes all week and had to work two jobs to support my brother, while attending school in New York.
People do not realize that part of attending college is to sacrifice many things in life - for example, a cell phone, a car, new clothes and expensive apartments. Please get real, as you stated you already got three scholarships, student loans and Pell grants - that should be enough.
There are many ways to finance education, such as working while attending school and using public transportation. Also, here in Juneau we have public housing to meet the needs of our Juneau residents. Finally, please do not complain, because we do have many scholarships and grants to go to school. You are just abusing the system.
Coming recently from the land of broke-student-ness (and being hopped up on a double shot mocha this morning), you can imagine that this got me well and truly pissed off. So, as people who know me might guess, I decided to write back.
This letter is in response to Mr. Velazquez's opinion about scholarships, and what constitutes "enough" money for students going to school.
Mr. Velazquez, I very recently spent three and a half years in college, two of which were here at UAS. During this entire time, I had no cell phone, no new clothes, and no fancy apartment (I lived in campus housing, which is not particularly nice at all, especially when one's roommates never clean). I took public transportation for the majority of that time, and only was able to buy a ten-year-old car by the grace of my relatives, because that year I had two evening classes downtown, after the buses quit running. During all that time I worked various jobs, but because I didn't have a flexible schedule and could only work part time, my choices were mostly limited to low-paying campus jobs, which barely paid enough money to live on.
How did I get through this period without ending up in serious debt? I was fortunate enough to have a mother who was able and willing to pay for campus housing, which came to over $2000 a semester. I was responsible for the costs of tuition, books, food, etc.; these very basic necessities came to over $3000 per semester. These I managed to finance through a series of good-paying summer jobs that I was lucky enough to find, my PFD, and my job at the campus library. Even between all of these, I had little enough money for necessities and none for the luxuries you mentioned.
Children who are not as lucky as me – those who don't have a parent or relatives to help – are faced with two choices: Either get loans and suffer enormous financial setbacks at the very beginning of their careers, or skip college altogether. Shouldn't children who come from poorer families have the same opportunities as those who come from rich ones? $1,250 a semester is not enough money to attend any college, even the relatively inexpensive ones here in Alaska. If we were truly serious about investing in our children's education (as President Bush says) we would put a lot more government money into scholarships and grants.
Maybe sticking that last bit about Bush in there was a cheap shot, given his previous letter, but the hypocrisy really gets me angry...
ETA: That's it, no more reading the paper after coffee. I'm really so mad I could eviscerate someone. =/
