Help me pay for school
Donation protected
My name is Sarah Pepe, I'm 20 years old and I'm an artist. For as long as I can remember, it has been my goal to attend The Cleveland Institute of Art, and after taking a gap year, I was accepted into the school and I was planning to attend in 2 weeks; until recently I found out I'm a few thousand short for tuition.
To give a little back story on why I'm making a GoFundMe.. My senior year of highschool was especially difficult for me. I lived with my mom, and her mental health had been declining for some time but things became really serious that year. I was kicked out of the house on christmas eve, and bounced around for a week or two before settling at a friend's house, where I stayed for 5 months. While I was living with this friend, I was declared an Unaccompanied Homeless Youth, meaning I was independent from my parents.
During spring break, my mom was rushed to the hospital and put into a facility to try and help her. She was only there for a few days and when she got out, I moved back home to take care of her. The thing is, some days she didn't need help and she was completely fine. Up and active, out of the house, laughing and talking. Then other days she was extremely hostile, paranoid, she accused me of awful things I never did. Often, there was physical altercations in the house because of the extremely hostile environment I was living in. I took a gap year because I was afraid to move away from her, incase something happened again.
This past year I worked up to 80 hours a week and made a decent amount of money but I was not able to save any of it because I was paying the rent for our apartment. Some days I would give my mom money for gas, for medication, groceries, her phone bill (as well as my own), clothes, dog food, cat food, etc. I just had no money left over to save. Every dollar I made was spent on something my family needed. Around April, I quit my job because of serious issues going on in my workplace, and I could not find a job that would pay me enough or have enough hours for me to be able to afford rent, and we lost our apartment in the beginning of May.
Since then I've had no where I am living, I've been living out of a backpack and couch surfing, now I'm quickly running out of places to stay.
Once I was on my own, I finally realized that I need to start living my own life for myself, take care of myself, and go to CIA. I was not able to file Independent on FAFSA because once I graduated from High school, my Homeless Youth status was no longer active. I used my mom's information on FAFSA (even though we do not speak at the moment, I have no idea where she is right now, and I am DEFINITELY not dependent on her, and havent been for quite some time.) because I was trying to figure it out by myself and i'm not exaggerating when I say that it is extremely complicated and stressful to do alone. I recieved a lot of financial aid support, but CIA is an extremely expensive school..roughly $60k a year. I am planning to live in a dorm on campus, and it will be the first time I will have my own bed, dresser, bathroom, and just a home in general, in months. My appeal for Independent status through CIA was denied. Since I do not speak to my parents, I cannot have them pull out a loan for me. I have no credit so I cannot pull out a loan for myself. It is too late to apply for any more scholarships and I do not have time to wait to apply, my tuition is due August 23rd at 4pm.
I am currently short around $8,000 just for the fall semester.. meaning I'm short another $8,000 for the spring semester as well. I am trying to raise as much as possible just for the fall semester, just to get me through the door and start school, giving me more time and resources to figure out how to pay for the spring semester. Hopefully whatever I do not make through here, I can try to pay by a payment plan, but I'm hoping to get help with the bulk of it.
It is really not easy for me to ask for help or for money. I would not be asking if I did not have any other choice. Please help me pay for school, this is the only thing in my life that I want for myself.
To give a little back story on why I'm making a GoFundMe.. My senior year of highschool was especially difficult for me. I lived with my mom, and her mental health had been declining for some time but things became really serious that year. I was kicked out of the house on christmas eve, and bounced around for a week or two before settling at a friend's house, where I stayed for 5 months. While I was living with this friend, I was declared an Unaccompanied Homeless Youth, meaning I was independent from my parents.
During spring break, my mom was rushed to the hospital and put into a facility to try and help her. She was only there for a few days and when she got out, I moved back home to take care of her. The thing is, some days she didn't need help and she was completely fine. Up and active, out of the house, laughing and talking. Then other days she was extremely hostile, paranoid, she accused me of awful things I never did. Often, there was physical altercations in the house because of the extremely hostile environment I was living in. I took a gap year because I was afraid to move away from her, incase something happened again.
This past year I worked up to 80 hours a week and made a decent amount of money but I was not able to save any of it because I was paying the rent for our apartment. Some days I would give my mom money for gas, for medication, groceries, her phone bill (as well as my own), clothes, dog food, cat food, etc. I just had no money left over to save. Every dollar I made was spent on something my family needed. Around April, I quit my job because of serious issues going on in my workplace, and I could not find a job that would pay me enough or have enough hours for me to be able to afford rent, and we lost our apartment in the beginning of May.
Since then I've had no where I am living, I've been living out of a backpack and couch surfing, now I'm quickly running out of places to stay.
Once I was on my own, I finally realized that I need to start living my own life for myself, take care of myself, and go to CIA. I was not able to file Independent on FAFSA because once I graduated from High school, my Homeless Youth status was no longer active. I used my mom's information on FAFSA (even though we do not speak at the moment, I have no idea where she is right now, and I am DEFINITELY not dependent on her, and havent been for quite some time.) because I was trying to figure it out by myself and i'm not exaggerating when I say that it is extremely complicated and stressful to do alone. I recieved a lot of financial aid support, but CIA is an extremely expensive school..roughly $60k a year. I am planning to live in a dorm on campus, and it will be the first time I will have my own bed, dresser, bathroom, and just a home in general, in months. My appeal for Independent status through CIA was denied. Since I do not speak to my parents, I cannot have them pull out a loan for me. I have no credit so I cannot pull out a loan for myself. It is too late to apply for any more scholarships and I do not have time to wait to apply, my tuition is due August 23rd at 4pm.
I am currently short around $8,000 just for the fall semester.. meaning I'm short another $8,000 for the spring semester as well. I am trying to raise as much as possible just for the fall semester, just to get me through the door and start school, giving me more time and resources to figure out how to pay for the spring semester. Hopefully whatever I do not make through here, I can try to pay by a payment plan, but I'm hoping to get help with the bulk of it.
It is really not easy for me to ask for help or for money. I would not be asking if I did not have any other choice. Please help me pay for school, this is the only thing in my life that I want for myself.
Organizer
Sarah Pepe Ann
Organizer
Lakewood, OH
