Category: Student Stories

“In my neighborhood, I walk outside and hear gunshots. I come home and hope my house hasn’t been broken into. But I still dream big,” says Nick.

“I could be mad, but it helps when I focus on helping other people. I help tutor other students, from seniors on down. I’m student body president, so a lot of people know me. My dad was a preacher and I grew up watching my mom and dad help people a lot. I have seen how happy it made them,” Nick remembers.

Nick’s family expected him to go to college. “Even though my father didn’t go to college, he always stressed it and said a high school diploma wouldn’t get me anything. It will get me a starter job, but not something stable. If I didn’t go to college, he told me, I wouldn’t be living at home.”

Growing up, Nick thought he could go to any college he wanted and his dad would pay for it. But in 6th grade, Nick’s parents got divorced and his dad was out of his life.

The ups and downs of figuring out financial aid

“Paying for college was a major question because my dad was the money of the family. When I got to high school I was like, the time is almost here. How am I going to pay?”

“My friend dropped out of college sophomore year. He can’t get a job anywhere. I didn’t want to be in those shoes.”

Nick focused on doing well in basketball, thinking it would help pay for college. But it was a presentation at school that gave him hope.

“When I was a junior, a school counselor did a presentation for the seniors on the FAFSA and financial aid. They let a few younger students sit in and listen. And I really listened. That’s when I learned about the Pell Grant. I kept thinking it was a loan, but it’s money you don’t have to pay back.”

The more he heard, the more hopeful he got. Nick went home and looked up the FAFSA on the internet — and almost got scammed.

“I went to some site that ended in .com and it took me through a lot of pages. Then, it asked me for a credit card. I was like, ‘Hey Mom, give me a credit card so I can fill out this FAFSA.’ She said, ‘Boy, wait until you are a senior to fill out that application.’”

At first Nick was disappointed, but later he found out that the first “F” in FAFSA stands for “free,” as in Free Application for Federal Student Aid. His school counselor said to always use the site that ends in .gov.

Filling out the real FAFSA

Nick worked on filling out the real FAFSA at a workshop at the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance. “I liked that the people at the workshop didn’t talk to you like you were a child. I started it there, and then that same night I told my mom to finish her portion.”

“When I got to high school I was like, the time is almost here. How am I going to pay for college?”

“I put on the FAFSA that I had one parent, because my mom was the only one who was going to cooperate through the process. I wasn’t going to waste time calling my father. My mom is who I’ve been with since 6th grade.”

Nick found out he was eligible for a Pell Grant of $5,900 for his first year of school. “I ended up getting four scholarships too, but that Pell Grant was essential. Some of those scholarships end at $25,000 and tuition is $30,000, so that’s the rest of my tuition right there.”

“The FAFSA also helped my mom go back to school so she can get a bachelor’s degree,” added Nick. “She also got the Pell Grant and isn’t paying a dime.”

Nick’s advice: Do this for yourself

Nick saw a lot of students struggle with the FAFSA. “I saw some people cry. They didn’t have support at home. But they wouldn’t have you fill out this information if it was impossible. Go to the front office for your Social Security number. Ask a counselor for help.”

“This could be more than $5,000 in your pocket, per year, that you don’t have to pay back. They are paying you to go be successful,” Nick says. “Don’t do it for your family, do it for yourself. You owe it to yourself to go be the best you can be.”

“Even if you had a rough start, you can finish strong.”

Nick will be attending Alcorn State University and is interested in studying computer science or sports administration.

“In Honduras, parents don’t usually deal with their children leaving. My mom is nervous and cries when she thinks about me leaving,” explains Christina.

Despite that, Christina knew she wanted to go to college. She joined lots of clubs to prepare, like a peer mentoring program and Rotary Interact Club. “I want to become a lawyer so I also joined the Young Lawyers Program. Every Thursday a bus took me to Loyola Law School and I learned about the trial system and law techniques.”

Her mom came to the United States before Christina was born. “She was looking for a better future. Eventually my older brother came too, but he was deported back to Honduras.”

“In my junior year, back in Honduras, my brother was shot. It was a really tough experience. Shortly after, my grandmother passed away. I left with my mom to go to Honduras to deal with family issues and missed a lot of school,” she says.

Trying to stay focused on her future

The tragedy with her brother and passing of her grandmother almost derailed Christina’s dreams. “I had to make up coursework. I started getting a lot of criticism from my family for always being out for programs in and out of school. They said I was just looking for a boyfriend, but it was never like that,” she says.

“The reason for everything I do is because I want to go to college. I constantly told myself, you know why you are doing this.”

“But when I started looking at the cost of college, I was astonished. I come from a low-income family. My mom is a housekeeper and the sole provider.”

Some of the other programs Christina participated in were Heart of Los Angeles and One Voice. “They were the ones who introduced me to the FAFSA and financial aid,” she remembers.

“I decided to fill out the FAFSA because I’d worked so hard in school — I didn’t want money to all of a sudden be the issue.”

How she got her mom’s support

“I knew I needed my mom’s information for the FAFSA, but it was hard because she was hesitant at first,” Christina recalls.

“She didn’t know what was going on. She was worried about how it might affect her government assistance or immigration status in the United States.”

What really helped was having her mom attend a workshop. “Heart of Los Angeles held workshops for parents almost every week about financial aid. I pestered her to go so she wouldn’t be lost in the process.”

“The counselors and everyone else in the room spoke Spanish, so my mom was able to understand everything and felt comfortable. Once they introduced the idea of financial aid being based on financial need, she understood that, if we didn’t do this, I wouldn’t receive any kind of help for college.”

“I decided to fill out the FAFSA because I’d worked so hard in school – I didn’t want money to all of a sudden be the issue.”

Christina was able to fill out the FAFSA once she had her mom’s information. “The only thing that caught me off guard was the terms they used. There were words I didn’t understand, so I had to wait until my counselor could meet with me so I could put in the right answers.”

“In total I am receiving $31,629 in financial aid. I got offered more from a college on the East Coast, but I wanted to go to Cal. I followed what my heart said.”

Christina’s advice: Take the risk

“I feel the important thing is letting people know you care. When I missed school because I was in Honduras, I told my teachers I wanted to keep being a good student, but I needed their support. They helped me make up work and keep studying for the SATs,” says Christina.

“And always ask for help,” she adds. “If I didn’t ask for help, I would have made a bunch of errors on the FAFSA.”

Lastly, Christina encourages others to apply for scholarships too. “I was stressed thinking about the cost of college, but that stress got me to fill out the FAFSA and apply for outside scholarships.”

“When I applied for my first one, I wasn’t confident and only did it because my counselor told me to take the risk. I got it! Just by taking these steps, I’m able to go to my dream school.”

Christina will be attending the University of California, Berkeley as a political science major. She plans to go on to law school and hopes to advance justice and help her community.

“My parents are mixed-status, which means their immigration status makes it hard for them to get work,” explains Manny.

“My uncle opened a restaurant in Kentucky, so we moved from California so my parents could work there. My mom talks about how her life would have been a lot different had she finished college. She was in a university in Mexico, but didn’t finish. My dad didn’t have the option of school.”

Manny says, “My parents always bring up how they want me and my brothers and sister to be in a better position than they’re in now.”

One of Manny’s teachers sophomore year made him realize college was possible. “I was falling asleep in his class because it was easy to me. He said, ‘Why don’t you switch into my AP course?’”

“At first I didn’t want to. I don’t know, I guess I didn’t think I would fit in. I didn’t feel like I was that smart and I would get judged. He helped me through it. I just had this barrier about myself and what I could really do.”

Manny realized he wanted to go to college and started taking as many AP classes as he could.

Getting financial aid with mixed-status parents

“Our college resource teacher, Dr. Carmichael, started talking about FAFSA to get financial aid. She was tweeting about it, putting flyers up and telling kids to fill it out,” Manny recalls.

“Different people started saying they didn’t want to worry me, but that filling out the FAFSA could put my parents on the map because of their immigration status.”

Manny decided to talk to his parents. “I sat down with my mom and dad and told them, if I do this, it could potentially let it be known to whoever that this is who they are and where they live.”

“I thought about what would happen to my family,” says Manny. “I have two younger siblings that live here in the house. If something happened to one of my parents, how would it impact them?”

But his parents gave him the courage to move forward with his goal. “My parents said, ‘If something is going to happen, it is going to happen.’ And if something did happen to one of them, they wanted it to be for this. They gave me the green light so I could continue applying for college. They are 100 percent behind me.”

Worries after being selected for verification

“I got the income documents I needed from my dad,” Manny remembers. “I had a study hall period, so I filled out the FAFSA myself there.”

“Different people started saying that filling out the FAFSA could put my parents on the map because of their immigration status.”

“I made two logins — one for me and one for my parents. I filled in my dad’s stuff, and then I filled out mine because I file taxes too. Soon after, I got the email confirming I’d completed the FAFSA.”

But then, Manny got word from the college he’d applied to that he was selected for verification. He’d have to provide extra paperwork.

Manny immediately went to Dr. Carmichael and explained the situation. “It got very stressful. I had to provide tax transcripts for my parents’ income. That was the main problem because I really wanted to protect my parents’ identity.”

“Dr. Carmichael and other administrators advised me and my parents not to go in person to the IRS office,” says Manny. They were concerned someone would ask questions. “Instead, we found a form to request the transcripts that we could fax in so we could get the transcripts mailed back. It was a long process.”

“Everybody else was getting letters saying how much financial aid they’d get. It was getting close to the deadline when I had to tell the university if I was enrolling and send a deposit. I didn’t want to do that because I didn’t know how much financial aid I would get.”

When all the verification paperwork was in, Manny set up a meeting with an admissions counselor at his college. “He gave me an estimate of the financial aid I’d get, like in the letters other people were getting. I was so relieved and pumped. I told my parents and they were so happy. It was like a weight off my shoulders.”

Manny’s advice: Find someone to guide you

Manny says a counselor can help other students figure out what to do if they’re feeling lost.

“It’s important to find somebody that can really help you through this whole process, like I had with Dr. Carmichael. If I didn’t have her, this whole process would have been 10 times harder for me.”

“Whenever I was stressed, I’d talk to Dr. Carmichael. She’d say okay, and then we’d call an admissions counselor. Or she would give me a number of somebody to call and say what was going on. She was my biggest connection.”

Manny will be studying biology at Bellarmine University. He plans to go on to medical school and says his parents are happy about what he has accomplished.

“Football taught me that not everything is given to you. If you’re going to win, you have to work hard for it,” says Kyron.

“I have a good work ethic. I always wanted to go to college, even since I was 6 or 7 years old. I had college installed in my mind since I was young. I wanted to go to college and play football.”

“I’m the youngest of my siblings, but I do have young cousins. I hold high expectations for them to go to college, too,” he says. “I stay on them on their grades.”

Kyron has other college dreams besides football. “I’m excited about meeting new people,” he says. “I’m excited to meet the next lawyers and doctors. I am excited about meeting people from different states or different countries. I want to surround myself with people with bright futures, because I have a bright future.”

How he almost missed out on financial aid

Kyron had to figure out how to pay for college. He remembers being surprised about financial aid.

“The principal at my old school gave a presentation. He said financial aid is money you get for college based on your mother and father’s tax return.”

“I was like, wow. I thought you either apply for scholarships or you just pay out of pocket.” He hadn’t heard about other forms of financial aid, like grants or loans.

“But I did not know anything about any FAFSA,” Kyron continues. “I thought you just sent in your mother and father’s tax returns and you just receive money. I didn’t know how important the FAFSA was until it was almost too late.”

Kyron started getting acceptance letters to colleges he’d applied to. But he knew something was wrong.

“I wasn’t getting any money. My friends started receiving financial aid award letters, and I wasn’t. They were getting a lot of money. Some of them got full rides to college. The stuff I received? It said I’ve got to pay $10,000 or $15,000.”

He found out from his school counselor, Ms. Boston, that it was because he hadn’t filled out the FAFSA. “It wasn’t until February that I’m like, okay, let me fill out this FAFSA.”

Filling out the FAFSA with his mom

Kyron talked to his mom about the tax information he needed to fill it out. “I had to explain it to my mom because she and my dad didn’t go to college. I told her, ‘We’ve got to get this done. If you give me your taxes, I’ll fill out everything.’”

“I was like, wow. I thought you either apply for scholarships or you just pay out of pocket.”

“She was like, ‘Which year’s taxes do you need?’ It confused us a bit because we thought we needed her 2016 taxes and she didn’t have them yet. But Ms. Boston told us the FAFSA just needed 2015, the year before.”

Kyron created an FSA ID for himself and his mom. “I put the usernames and passwords up in a safe place that I know will be easy for us to find. Then I filled out the FAFSA. It only took like 30 minutes tops.”

After Kyron completed his FAFSA, Ms. Boston helped him make sure he was getting financial aid from the colleges he’d applied to.

“Every day, Ms. Boston was telling me to call colleges and check my financial aid status. I thank her for that. She is an encouraging person and good individual,” says Kyron.

Pretty soon, Kyron got his financial aid award letter. “I’m getting money for college now. Everybody was getting financial aid, and I was just left out. I would have just been sitting here looking stupid,” he laughs.

Kyron’s advice: Fill out the FAFSA early

“Do your FAFSA as quick as possible. Really get it done. It is very important. Take the time out of the day to do it and get it all over with so you can receive money for college. I can’t stress that enough.”

“Just stay calm,” Kyron says. “One of the schools will give you the financial aid package you need. And get to know your school counselors, too.”

“I have days where I’m kind of nervous about college, but I’m excited to try this new thing for my family. Maybe I could make this a new trend in my family, and we’ll all go to college.”

Kyron will attend Central Michigan University and plans to major in business. He will be playing football in college and hopes to someday start a youth center where kids can play sports.

“I’m the first generation to go to college,” says Alana. “When I was little, I wanted to go to college to get a better life and afford the things my family needs.”

“My family was always advising me to not give up and keep going with my education.”

Alana got interested in becoming a nurse early in life. “I would sometimes go to the hospital with my parents, grandparents or aunts or uncles. I liked the nurses because they made patients feel better when they felt really bad,” Alana remembers.

“I decided I want to major in nursing. I want a bachelor’s of science in nursing.”

“At the beginning of my senior year, I was scared because I didn’t have money to go to college. I talked to my counselor and told him my plan was to go to a community college for two years instead because it would cost less.”

“He said I could go to a four-year university if I wanted. He gave me information about the FAFSA and how to fill it out.”

Learning how to apply for financial aid

“When I first heard about the FAFSA, I was like, ‘Oh my God, how am I going to fill it out?’ I thought it was a long process and we were going to need lots of papers,” Alana recalls. “My mom and I were lost. We thought we wouldn’t be able to do it by ourselves.”

“We found out about a FAFSA night with Project GRAD. We attended and found out we didn’t need as many papers as I thought. They told us exactly what documents we needed and explained the whole process.”

Alana remembers how relaxed she felt after the FAFSA night. “We were with people like us — families that didn’t know exactly what to do. So we weren’t shy.”

Getting money for college — and her mom’s blessing to go

It took Alana and her mom about two hours to fill out the FAFSA at a workshop with Project GRAD. “It was pretty easy because Project GRAD told us what documents we needed to bring.”

“We had to create an email account for my mom. Then there was a part where we had to connect with the IRS so my mom can show her income tax. We had to know the type of income tax you filed, which was hard because my mom and I didn’t know,” Alana remembers.

“It was confusing, but there was a lady who was helping. She helped us know what kind of tax form we had, and then we could easily do it.”

After completing the FAFSA, Alana got her Estimated Family Contribution. “It said zero, which meant my family couldn’t contribute a lot to my education. I was really excited. The grants and loans I could get were really good. My mom was really happy, too,” says Alana.

“I was in the exact same position as a lot of students: I didn’t know anything about college or the FAFSA. I was really stressed.”

“I got a scholarship that covers 90 percent of my four years at the university. The other 10 percent that I got from the FAFSA will cover the rest. I feel really blessed and glad I filled out the FAFSA.”

But Alana and her mom were having doubts about her leaving home. “At the beginning, I didn’t want to leave, and my mom didn’t want to let me go. But it’s better for me to be on campus so I have more study time. My counselor knew we were sad and decided to talk to my mom.”

“Even though my mom is sad that I’m going, she says she understands now. She says it is for my future and anything for my future is good for her too,” Alana adds.

Alana’s advice: Talk to someone who knows about this stuff

“I was in the exact same position as a lot of students: I didn’t know anything about college or the FAFSA. I was really stressed,” she says.

“But my advice is to look for help and information. Talk to your counselor or an organization like Project GRAD. They know a lot about how you can pay for college.”

“Some of my classmates didn’t fill out the FAFSA. They kind of regret it. I heard them saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I should have filled out the FAFSA back in October.’ Now they’re feeling sad because they have to fill it out by themselves.”

“If you don’t know what to do, that is fine. Look for advice from teachers, counselors or even friends. Start as soon as possible.”

Alana will be attending Sam Houston State University and studying nursing. She’s happy she’ll only be about an hour and a half away from her mom.

“My dad used to work in construction. One day, he fell from the second floor of a house. He really hurt his back and it’s difficult for him to walk now. He’s been on disability ever since,” says Liliana.

Liliana’s dad has been an inspiration to her, especially when other adults in her life weren’t supportive.

“My dad is my main motivation. Even though he doesn’t have stability, he has always encouraged me to do better. My mom doesn’t pay much attention to me and wasn’t so good about the idea of me going to college. But my dad supports me. He said he was proud of me.”

Besides her dad’s encouragement, seeing her siblings struggle made her decide to go to college.

“In 11th grade, I started thinking about what to do with my life. I have five older brothers and one older sister. They all dropped out to help my parents out. I am the only one who has finished high school,” Liliana explains.

“Seeing my siblings struggle — I don’t want to be like that. They have children and I think they were not financially ready for it. I’m not saying kids are bad. They are a blessing to your family. But I want to get myself together and finish college and accomplish something first.”

Figuring out the FAFSA

Because Liliana’s family depends on her income, she decided to become a medical assistant. “I need to work and the program is faster. I started looking at how much it was going to cost me.”

Liliana learned about the FAFSA from Café College. “A woman named Melissa reached out to me. I went to her office right across from my high school to fill it out.”

“My first thought was, Oh, this is going to be so easy. It will probably take 15 minutes. But I didn’t have my parent’s income tax information, so I had to come back the next day.”

Liliana’s mom didn’t want to give her the information at first. “My mom didn’t want me to go to college. I had to tell her it is going to be good for me. Eventually, she said okay.”

Liliana finished the FAFSA with Melissa’s help. Then, another surprise came.

Getting help when she was asked for additional documentation

Liliana’s college selected her for verification. “They asked for a lot of information. My mom’s income tax transcript. Proof of my dad’s disability income. I had to go back and forth, back and forth.”

“It was a relief. I don’t have to pay out of my pocket and I don’t have to work extra hours.”

“I asked Melissa for help. She is more experienced with the FAFSA and I didn’t want to make any mistakes,” Liliana recalls.