By Adrianna Alessi
COVID-19 was a whirlwind that took our entire world and spun it off its feet. Undoubtedly, every single person can relate to one another in the way that we were either directly or indirectly affected by the repercussions of the virus, whether it was a loved one getting sick, unemployment, struggling to make ends meet, or bearing the restrictions.
I was crushed when we first got news of the mandatory lockdown. As a senior in high school, the only thought immediately circulating my mind was the realization that I was going to miss out on some life-long memories with my best friends: I’d never get to go to Disney, wear my prom dress, or even walk across the stage to receive my diploma. I wholeheartedly believed that myself, my fellow classmates, and all seniors in high school had it worse than anyone else.
I’d never get to go to Disney, wear my prom dress, or even walk across the stage to receive my diploma. I wholeheartedly believed that myself, my fellow classmates, and all seniors in high school had it worse than anyone else.
Once lockdown was underway, my demeanor was altered extensively. When my dad was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer of the kidney in May, I realized that instead of sulking over the things that will not matter to me in ten years, it was miles more worthwhile to cherish the time I would get to spend with my dad and the rest of my family.
The end of all normalcy.
In my life, I have never experienced anything as scary, overwhelming, and surreal as the realization that my entire life is bound to change and there is virtually nothing that could be done about it. However, this change of perspective and needed awakening from my then sheltered mentality was the fundamental aspect of my gained consciousness of one of the many systemic issues that I was subject to first-hand.
Pre-pandemic, in October of my senior year of high school, I signed to University of Maryland’s track and field program, a coveted achievement of mine that was so cherished by myself and my entire family. With a competitive academic and athletic environment to the extent of UMD, my family knew that any form of financial aid would be a long-shot, considering I had two hardworking parents at the time, however, I packed my schedule with every AP class I could take and studied to the point of exhaustion in order to be rewarded with any amount of merit-based academic scholarship or grant money.
At the time that I was accepted in late December, my financial packet had no form of any aid or scholarship, and was in fact, demanding full tuition: $48,540 per year, for tuition and room and board alone.
Once May hit and we received my dad’s diagnosis, he was immediately out of his (commission-based) job, as were millions of other hardworking Americans. With my mom being the only form of income in my household after I had to take a leave from my minimum-wage job to minimize any risk of spreading COVID to my dad, it is downright impossible for her to be expected to be able to afford my four years, in addition my older sister’s education, who is a senior at a four-year, private, Jesuit university, and is required to complete graduate school as a prerequisite to her career. We contacted University of Maryland, explaining our unique situation and how my family would be losing half of our income, and still, they were firm in their decision to classify my family as exempt from any form of aid.
We contacted [the university], explaining our unique situation and how my family would be losing half of our income, and still, they were firm in their decision to classify my family as exempt from any form of aid.
After adding the sum of my education and my sister’s, my mom, alone, is expected to pay over half a million dollars, without any form of aid, primarily because of the outdated FAFSA system that only looks at numbers and not personal situations. Sure, student loans are a widely accepted method of managing debt, as 66 percent of graduates from public colleges have relied on this approach, however according to the Department of Education’s recent data from June 2020, borrowers in the U.S owe $1.67 trillion of student loan debt, the average student loan debt in America is $36,520, and out of the total student debt, “$1.54 trillion is federal and $131.81 billion is private. Student loans surpass all other forms of debt in the U.S. aside from housing debt.”
“Eighty-three percent of graduates will never repay their loans in full.”
Source: credit.com, "U.S. Average Student Loan Debt Statistics in 2019"
Not only is there a fundamental, substantial issue in the average net-tuition per year being over thirty thousand, but the system arranged to manage this debt lacks structure, proper communication, and is setting vulnerable young-adults up for failure. This does not even take into account that Universities are still charging full tuition, including locking in payments for room and board for completely remote learning during a pandemic, and that most have failed to provide any margin of elbow room for those struggling to pay their student loan fees as a result of unemployment.
The world is missing a sense of consideration, and it’s incredibly unfortunate that it has to take a global pandemic for these issues to come to surface.
In my opinion, no 17-year-old should have to decide between signing their life away to debt and living with the guilt that their education is inadvertently putting their parent’s livelihood and hard-earned finances at stake, especially during a global pandemic.
It is undeniable that a college degree is invaluable. For something so priceless, it seems almost immoral for Universities to consciously make higher education feel like a financial burden for those who can least afford it. The world is missing a sense of consideration, and it’s incredibly unfortunate that it has to take a global pandemic for these issues to come to surface.
Source: CNBC Make It, "How student loans became a $1.6 trillion problem"
Unfortunately, this was a decision I faced, due to the fact that the University I was so excited and honored to attend excused my financial needs. In late August, I applied to Rowan, and after receiving my letter of acceptance, in addition to generous academic aid, I completely withdrew from UMD, and made a fifty-thousand-dollar decision that I do not regret in the slightest. I committed to go to Rowan University for one-tenth of the price of University of Maryland.
From my experience with college thus far, my perspective on the importance of learning to compromise and make concessions for the things in life that really matter has greatly changed. Although I made the financial decision to stay home, I missed out on the superficial freshman year "college experience," however, in doing so, I was able to save a substantial amount of money, care for and spend precious time with my father, and take time to reflect on myself. I made the most of my own experience and am thankful for this turn of events.
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