Not too Good but Not too bad

[jackfaire]

I know it's petty but it frustrates me that I am making enough money and working hard enough to tread water and slowly eke my way up to where I can cut down to part time work and go back to school so I can get my degree.

It's frustrating because if I was making more money I could go back to school quicker and if I was making less money I could get assistance.

I am repeatedly running into people who are going to school on my (tax payer) dime by virtue of something like they had kids (this is under their control).

I understand helping them feed and clothe their kids but there are programs funded by my tax dollars to put these parents through college so that they can get jobs I would love to have that I can't afford to go get because I can't get assistance with college (can't apply for grants until my college loans are paid off).

It just doesn't feel fair to me. College shouldn't be something that we are paying for if the person meets certain qualifications. Scholarships I understand but I think there are better things my tax dollars could be doing.

[KellyHabersham]

I can relate to what you're saying....although on my end, my frustrations are more with health insurance - I don't receive it through either job, don't make enough money to afford it on my own, and I make too much to qualify for assistance programs.

[muses_nightmare]

I know exactly how you feel. My boyfriend is an x-ray tech, but he's been sick and off work for the past couple months. We went to see if we could get some assitance, or welfare temporarily, but apparently since I'm in school trying to you know, better myself so I can get a better paying job, we don't qualify. He also can't get disability because he hasn't been in his position long enough, and there's basically no other help.

We're just damn lucky that most of his prescriptions are covered under fair pharmacare. His doctor even had to fudge some thing to make sure his new drug was covered because it's $5000 per dose (and that's not a typo), and he has to get doses every 2 months for at least a year.

Scholarships are pretty hard to come by too, since most are for high school students, or only for certain schools. It's just stupid.

And to top it all off one of my former employers changed my T4 so I now owe the government $130. Nice. and my dad who made $150 000 last year get's $6000 back. Figure that one out.

Seems like people who work hard for things get screwed over left and right and people who play the system get things handed to them.

Sorry if I hijacked the thread a bit, this type of stuff pisses me off.

[jackfaire]

Sorry if I hijacked the thread a bit, this type of stuff pisses me off.

Nah it's totally cool kind of the whole point of the thread. I get pissed off because I feel like I am losing years of my life to bettering my life.

It's feeling like these people get a free ride but me I have to choose do I work towards going back to school and bettering myself or do I start living the rest of my life.

[AdminAssistant]

College shouldn't be something that we are paying for if the person meets certain qualifications. Scholarships I understand but I think there are better things my tax dollars could be doing.

Actually, providing college educations to those who qualify who otherwise can't afford it improves our society. Without a scholarship I wouldn't have been able to get my BFA. Without assistantships, tuition waivers, and other forms of public support I wouldn't be able to go to grad school.

What better things could your tax dollars be doing? Higher education needs more public support, not less. I personally get pissed that I went through 4 years of university on a scholarship and then not get any Pell Grants for my graduate work.

[powerboy]

Oh man, I truly know how you feel. I cannot go to school, because I do not make enough. I cannot get assistance or a scholarship, because I make more than enough. It feels as if I cannot I better myself. But yet, people who plays the system, gets everything handed to them.

[jackfaire]

Actually, providing college educations to those who qualify who otherwise can't afford it improves our society. Without a scholarship I wouldn't have been able to get my BFA. Without assistantships, tuition waivers, and other forms of public support I wouldn't be able to go to grad school.

What better things could your tax dollars be doing? Higher education needs more public support, not less. I personally get pissed that I went through 4 years of university on a scholarship and then not get any Pell Grants for my graduate work.

Admin it is the unfairness of it that drives me nuts.

When I first went to school I couldn't get scholarships, grants or any other form of assistance because my parents made too much money. Naturally with what they were making of course they should be able to pay for me to go to school.

They didn't care that they were taking care of three kids. Nor the mortgage on the only house big enough to shelter my family.

As such I was forced to get loans or not go to school at all. Now until those loans are paid off I cannot apply for more loans nor even grants. And I make too much money for any assistance of any kind by only a couple hundred.

So yes I think it is unfair that a person driving a brand new lexus who owns a nice big house can get assistance.

And other people from various demographics while I must struggle along because my ability to take care of myself is manifest.

[the_std]

When I first went to school I couldn't get scholarships, grants or any other form of assistance because my parents made too much money.

Okay, I don't know if it's different in the States than it is in Canada, but here there are a lot of scholarships, grants and forms of assistance that have nothing to do with your family's income level. I went to a pretty damn rich high school with kids whose parents, both of them, were making at least $100,000+ a year, and 35% of my graduating class got at least one scholarship. In fact, many of the keeners who came from the richest families got half or full rides for at least the first year.

Now, I'm not saying that this is what you're doing, I'm merely speaking from my own experience with people and post-secondary education, but every single person from my high school that I heard complaining about not being able to get assistance or afford school either had A) poor marks that wouldn't let them qualify for the majority of assistance, which is their own fault or B) not done any thorough research into the hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of assistance that were available to them. If they had really wanted to go so badly, there were ways to get it. Hell, I came from an upper-middle class family with parents who made "too much money", I was an average student (around C+) and I still managed to get assistance.

Like I said, I'm not trying to bash anyone and I'm not sure if it's different in your country, but this was my experience with the subject.

[Boozy]

That was my experience, too.

I got a full ride my first year, and partial scholarship assistance thereafter. My parents' income was not a factor. No one even asked about it.

With that said, I suspect that Canada values higher education more than the US, and there are probably more scholarships and subsidies available to us.

[AdminAssistant]

When I first went to school I couldn't get scholarships, grants or any other form of assistance because my parents made too much money. Naturally with what they were making of course they should be able to pay for me to go to school.

There are scholarships in the US that are not tied to income. Mine wasn't, it just had a LOT of requirements.

[jackfaire]

I am not talking about scholarships. Everyone seems to be missing the point. I have no issues with Scholarships as most are funded by organizations or private parties.

My issue is that rather than lower my taxes so that I can afford to pay for myself to go to school they raise my taxes so they can give the money to other people to go to school.

I am talking about the taxpayer money not private funds. Scholarships are not tax payer money.

[linguist]

what kind of loans did you get that you can't get more without paying them off? i dropped out of school and went back 6 years later with loans still outstanding, and had no problems getting more. then, when i decided to go for a second degree, i still qualified for loans even with somewhere around $30000 in loans outstanding from my previous degree. these were all stafford loans.

also, you've mentioned in other threads having been in the service. do you not qualify for the g.i. bill?

[jackfaire]

also, you've mentioned in other threads having been in the service. do you not qualify for the g.i. bill?

I was seperated for medical reasons a little less than half into my term of service I didn't do enough time to qualify for my GI Bill.

I don't know why I am not entitled to more money. Not sure what kind of loan it is but everytime I have applied I have been rejected on the grounds that I still owe money on my previous college loan. I am given no more information than that.