When it comes time to divvy up financial aid to those who truly need or deserve the assistance, government programs relying on the FAFSA form fail miserably year after year. Students who pay for their own collegiate education despite FAFSA's determination that they are not in need of financial aid are easily the most financially disadvantaged students graduating from colleges today. Yet we - the students suffering almost $20,000 in pure debt each year in exchange for an Ohio University education - are also consistently overlooked when applying for scholarships and are often deemed undeserving of work-study positions.
When applying for said scholarships and work-study positions, we are told we must demonstrate financial need which, in my experience, is gauged only by yet another reference to the incompetent FAFSA-run system. We are consistently denied opportunities to take advantage of costly educational programs, such as study abroad, because the Ohio University scholarship programs ignore our true financial need.
In my most recent experience this denial came masked in the form of the following question, which is said to determine the recipient of a scholarship I'd desperately need in order to study in Salzburg, Austria.
Did you hold a leadership position in an organization or club?
No. I hold the best-paying job I've found in Athens after an extensive two-year search and still struggle to pay for food, utilities and other expenses out-of-pocket in hopes of shrinking my terrifying debt. Oh, and then there's my phone bill and the $120 per month Parent PLUS loan I took out in my parents' names because no, FAFSA, they are not paying for my education. And the 13% interest rate I was offered? I'll pass.
I spend my weekend mornings filling condiments and serving breakfast platters at the Union Street Diner to those in need of a greasy hangover cure. I'd gladly lead a club, had I the time, but juggling necessary work and a 3.8 GPA whittles away much of my week. And as for internships over breaks? I hold two jobs in Toledo, more than the equivalent of 40 hours per week.
So, FAFSA, you've put me in a position to be desperately jealous of the aid received by unwed mothers and at wits end with my moral inability to strip. You've simultaneously prevented me from being considered for numerous scholarships, internships I cannot afford without assistance, a position at the library and a trip abroad.
And I am not alone.
I, and those in my position, love and wish to study at this university so desperately that we shell out the same amount of cash as the wealthiest parents of our fellow classmates. When do we catch a break?
Lindsey Plocek is a junior studying journalism.
4 Opinion
