By Whitney Mahon

Contributor

As many college students are beginning to prepare for finals coming up within the next month, the wait begins to find out their financial aid eligibility for the upcoming academic year. While some are preparing for summer vacation in some exotic city, others are excited to be able to put in more hours at their jobs to save up for the following semester.

During my undergraduate studies from 2007-2011, California State University consecutively increased their tuition 10 percent each academic year. When will increases in tuition and fees stop? Recently, President Haynes posted on the California State University San Marcos website homepage the proposal of a “Success Fee” maxing out at $275 per semester by the 2016-2017 academic year. That just adds to the money coming out of student’s pockets.

I plan to stay in school for the rest of my life to postpone paying back my loans because everyone knows that trying to get a career within the six months grace period they give us is highly unlikely in this economy. I need a loan just to start paying back my loans.

According to FinAid, in quarter one of the 2012-13 school year, over 9 million free FAFSA applications were submitted, with California having the highest submission rate.  With such a high participation rate, you would think that this would be an easy and delightful process. Financial aid has been anything but…

The most efficient thing about financial aid is when they gave you the ability to automatically link your application to the government page which transported your tax information over for you. That saved you a whole 30 minutes; the time I wish they would take to realize that my parent’s information had absolutely no correlation to my life expenses.

The second year I was in college was the same year my parents stopped supporting me after declaring me independent according to government regulations. However, none of that really mattered since I was under the age of 25 and was still considered “dependent”, forcing me to put their tax information on my financial aid application which altered my eligibility of receiving the necessary funding.

And then when I did get accepted for a grant or loan, the wait to receive your check feels longer than eternity. I am thankful to receive any type of aid, but it doesn’t help that my check gets sent to my house 3 weeks into the semester at the point where I have already missed 2 homework assignments and failed one quiz because I couldn’t afford to buy the $97 required textbook for the course.

According to The College Board, two-thirds of full-time undergraduate students receive some sort of financial aid, whether it is loans, grants, scholarships, and/or work-study. It is evident that over half of students depend on these sources of financial support and without it; they would be stuck living life with nothing more than a high school diploma.

And don’t get me wrong, students can go through an entire college career without receiving any financial aid but even working 40 hours a week at $17 per hour, sure I could have afford my tuition, but would end up being evicted from my apartment  and eating Top Ramen out of the bag.

One last issue is that financial aid requires you to be enrolled full-time in order to receive all of your financial assistance, yet schools are becoming so overcrowded that it is almost impossible to get the classes you need. No classes, no money. No money, no classes. It looks like we got a case of a “Catch 22”.

My plea is to provide more resources for financial aid services. For students who are aware of these resources, lend out a hand and share that information with your fellow struggling classmates. Together we can work toward a future of less debt and more opportunity.