Help Cassie Survive NYU
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If you click here, you'll see my blog. It's called Misadventures in the Big Apple. Over the past six months, I've taken to calling it "Misadventures".
It certainly is a Misadventure that I have to be sharing it with all of you wonderful people on Go Fund Me.
The blog is my outlet of expression about my trials and adventures here in New York City, where I attend New York University, the second most expensive school in the United States of America. And, often, the least likely to give financial aid. I am a first year, in my spring semester.
Almost a year ago to date (I recieved my acceptance letter on Valentine's Day of 2014), I was informed that I would be starting school at NYU in the fall with a $41,000 yearly merit scholarship. Add in FASFA money and federal aid, and my grand total was nearly $63,000.
In awe, my family and I visited New York City in April (my first time ever). While there, we spoke with the Financial Aid Office. We were told that there would be absolutely no problem with tuition, and that I would be set for all four years of schooling.
As we discovered after I had accepted the school's offer of admission, this was not the case.
Just a little background on me. I'm from Howell, Michigan. It's a small town, made for people with big dreams and little paychecks (well, except for the corporate moneymakers and the entrepreneurs). The point is, it's not the place where you'd expect to see millionaires roaming about. It's a place for middle class families. It's the place where I grew up. It's the home that I love.
But Manhattan was my dream. New York University was my railroad track to the end of the line; the place where those dreams come true. It was the rainbow to my pot of gold.
Enough metaphors. You get the point.
Anyway, at the moment of my acceptance, NYU asked for a $500 tuition downpayment. Then, during the summer of 2014, we were hit with another bullet. $1000 for a housing downpayment, and no way to apply my scholarship toward it.
This made no sense to me. There was obviously a reason that I needed both financial and federal aid. Wasn't that made apparent by our constant phone calls to the FA Office? We didn't have $1,000. And it almost sickened me that I was about to go to a school where it was automatically immediately assumed that students did.
I argued with myself, saying that this was standard protocol. After all, don't most schools ask for tuition and housing downpayments? But the unexpected costs left us overwhelmed and, in the fall, we were hit yet again.
$3900 was the difference between my financial aid and tuition between the fall and spring semesters.
I didn't understand. The financial aid office had said we wouldn't have a problem. They had been explicitly clear about the avoidance of hidden fees. And yet, here we were.
I do not come from a family that has $3900 to spare. When the recession hit, it hit hard. I won't go into details because that's not fair to you. But assume, please assume, that we have done everything in our power to raise the money to get through this.
But we still haven't made it out of the woods. Now, NYU has asked that we supply $1000 for next year's housing by March 12. I work extremely hard at school. I work between 16-20 hours a week, I am taking 16 credits worth of classes, and I do freelance writing on the side, as well as maintaining my blog. My free time is shot. I'm out of money, I don't qualify for loans, and I'm out of options.
Please believe me when I say that I don't ask for help unless I have absolutely no other choice.
So I'm asking you, if you're still reading, to take the opportunity to help me survive my freshman year. $20, $10, even $5 helps. And I promise, I will be doing everything I can to make that goal move down on my own in the meantime.
Investigative Journalism is my dream career. I spent 12 years working so hard to reach this point in my life and, while I have been extremely blessed in my opportunities, I'm not ready for it to end.
Thank you so much for your time, effort, consideration, and donations. It means the world to me.
It certainly is a Misadventure that I have to be sharing it with all of you wonderful people on Go Fund Me.
The blog is my outlet of expression about my trials and adventures here in New York City, where I attend New York University, the second most expensive school in the United States of America. And, often, the least likely to give financial aid. I am a first year, in my spring semester.
Almost a year ago to date (I recieved my acceptance letter on Valentine's Day of 2014), I was informed that I would be starting school at NYU in the fall with a $41,000 yearly merit scholarship. Add in FASFA money and federal aid, and my grand total was nearly $63,000.
In awe, my family and I visited New York City in April (my first time ever). While there, we spoke with the Financial Aid Office. We were told that there would be absolutely no problem with tuition, and that I would be set for all four years of schooling.
As we discovered after I had accepted the school's offer of admission, this was not the case.
Just a little background on me. I'm from Howell, Michigan. It's a small town, made for people with big dreams and little paychecks (well, except for the corporate moneymakers and the entrepreneurs). The point is, it's not the place where you'd expect to see millionaires roaming about. It's a place for middle class families. It's the place where I grew up. It's the home that I love.
But Manhattan was my dream. New York University was my railroad track to the end of the line; the place where those dreams come true. It was the rainbow to my pot of gold.
Enough metaphors. You get the point.
Anyway, at the moment of my acceptance, NYU asked for a $500 tuition downpayment. Then, during the summer of 2014, we were hit with another bullet. $1000 for a housing downpayment, and no way to apply my scholarship toward it.
This made no sense to me. There was obviously a reason that I needed both financial and federal aid. Wasn't that made apparent by our constant phone calls to the FA Office? We didn't have $1,000. And it almost sickened me that I was about to go to a school where it was automatically immediately assumed that students did.
I argued with myself, saying that this was standard protocol. After all, don't most schools ask for tuition and housing downpayments? But the unexpected costs left us overwhelmed and, in the fall, we were hit yet again.
$3900 was the difference between my financial aid and tuition between the fall and spring semesters.
I didn't understand. The financial aid office had said we wouldn't have a problem. They had been explicitly clear about the avoidance of hidden fees. And yet, here we were.
I do not come from a family that has $3900 to spare. When the recession hit, it hit hard. I won't go into details because that's not fair to you. But assume, please assume, that we have done everything in our power to raise the money to get through this.
But we still haven't made it out of the woods. Now, NYU has asked that we supply $1000 for next year's housing by March 12. I work extremely hard at school. I work between 16-20 hours a week, I am taking 16 credits worth of classes, and I do freelance writing on the side, as well as maintaining my blog. My free time is shot. I'm out of money, I don't qualify for loans, and I'm out of options.
Please believe me when I say that I don't ask for help unless I have absolutely no other choice.
So I'm asking you, if you're still reading, to take the opportunity to help me survive my freshman year. $20, $10, even $5 helps. And I promise, I will be doing everything I can to make that goal move down on my own in the meantime.
Investigative Journalism is my dream career. I spent 12 years working so hard to reach this point in my life and, while I have been extremely blessed in my opportunities, I'm not ready for it to end.
Thank you so much for your time, effort, consideration, and donations. It means the world to me.
Organizer
Cassie Bondie
Organizer
New York, NY