College Fund and a Fresh Start

I really don’t like asking for help, but I’m reaching out to anyone with a heart for giving. My name is Ali Cather, I am 19 years old and I have the privelege of calling a small town in Oklahoma my home. I am a very independent, intelligent person and I have spent my entire life working to keep my GPA and reputation up because I thought that was the only thing that could get me where I wanted to be in life. What I have learned from educational institutions is not valuable information for the real world such as how to file taxes, pay bills, make a living, manage money, how to vote, or even what political party I might prefer to be associated with. What I have been taught by my years of schooling is that if you aren’t one of the elite, pretty/handsome, athletic beings, school may be a little harder for you. I learned that while I spent countless nights sleepless staying up to do the my homework that the “jock” students payed the “nerds” such as myself to do the very same work. I learned that while I was spending my time earning straight A’s and working to please coaches as teachers who thought of me as nothing more than a “band nerd” or a “geek,” the same coaches were giving their favorite athletic students participation grades so they wouldn’t fail. I come from a low income family who couldn’t afford to let all three students play sports, so when my younger brother took up baseball and football, that was it for me. Even though I loved running and jumping hurdles was an absolute thrill to me, I never saw the track for competition. Instead, I focused on my classes and academic things such as being a member of the band, National honor Society, Beta club (where I won the colored pencil drawing state competition for Oklahoma at convention two years in a row, but didn’t have funds to make it to national competition), attending a summer camp called Upward Bound that was centered around preparing students for college by giving them a taste of the experience and helping them find a way to fund their education, and being an avid student council member as Vice President of my class. Coming from a one-income family with a mother who could be considered disabled, even paying the bills and keeping food on the table became an issue for my family. My mother is currently in very poor health: she has severe back pains to where most of her body goes numb after unbearable hours of pain, as well as teeth that are abscessing one after another because she has dedicated her life to taking care of her children rather than herself. The doctors she has visited told her she had no hope of a chance for getting help due to not being able to afford insurance. I would love to be able to help her the way she has helped her children before it’s too late. We were denied any kind of federal help for years such as food stamps, Sooner Care, or any other source due to our income level being considered “above poverty level.” My father left our family when I was at a young age, and I can certainly say it was for the better. He was verbally as well as physically abusive to my mother and my older brother, and threatened to kill my family on at least one occasion. When my mother finally tried to file for divorce after years of abuse, my father left the state to avoid being served the proper paperwork and lived with his mother for a while. Upon returning and being divorced, Court ordered that my siblings and I had to stay with our father certain weekends and that he would have to pay child support, part of our medical bills, and keep insurance on us kids. On the specific weekends we were required to stay with him, he was almost always gone and our uncle Ross, who is now deceased, took care of us. My father took my mother to court and had child support lowered several times to an amount that was hardly enough to pay for food for a single child, let alone clothing, medical bills, and other needs for three. In the process of this, my mother was also insulted and threatened by my step-mother of a “new family” we had never even met. Maybe I was raised better without him in my life, but I was taught that blood comes first, especially children. My father eventually moved out of state completely and we never heard much from him unless he called for a few minutes and most of the calls ended in fights with our mother. He returned to Oklahoma once to attend a family member’s funeral, but instead he ended up taking the few things that he had ownership of at our home and left again. Not long ago, he invited my older brother to move out of state and live with him and the other family, then proceeded to make my brother pay rent and guilt trip him for living in the home he was invited to stay in. My brother was invited to take a vacation with his girlfriend but while he was gone, my father changed the locks/key codes and refused to let my brother return. Then proceeded to feed lie after lie to my brother trash talking my mother. We have now also been informed by several of our fathers family members that this was a plot to get custody of our younger brother so child support would not have to be payed by my father. When my brother confronted my father, knowing he was lying, he was given a chance to apologize and tell the truth, but stuck to his lies and continued to insult the only parent we had ever received help and guidance from. Now that I am older and have graduated high school, my dream is to attend Oklahoma State University in pursuit of a veterinary degree through agribusiness so that one day I may open my own vet clinic, but I did not receive anywhere close to enough scholarships to help me pay for my education, so after my first two summer classes at OSU I was already left thousands of dollars in debt. With an ACT score of 25, an unweighted high school GPA of 3.9, and a college GPA of 4.0 after my first classes, I really hoped universities would have a better reaction to my applications. Those grades were achieved with sleepless nights, hard work, stress, and tears. I don’t have internet at home, and my mother was never able to finish my paperwork for Oklahoma’s promise to help fund my education, and I was also informed that I can not receive federal funding such as Fafsa until I reach either 25 years of age or a status of emancipated minor which involves me going to court with several witnesses of high esteem and trash talking my family to get the help I need which is not something I would like to do. I have talked to several different financial aid offices at several different universities including on-campus, and online options and have received the same negative responses. A sturdy co-signer is required for any kind of student loans as well, which my mother is not capable of doing. My siblings would have to do the same to get any kind of help. The cause behind this situation is the inability of my mother to provide accurate tax information because we are fairly sure my father has illegally claimed my siblings and I as dependents in the state of Florida, committing tax fraud, for years now and the state of Oklahoma has done nothing to counteract the situation. I have received several notifications from the Oklahoma tax commission stating I would have to prove my Oklahoma residency because of this. Now, once again, my father has asked for child support to be lowered. This doesn’t effect me any longer, but it does effect my family. I would love for my brothers and I to be able to pursue an education in whatever we may choose, but education is expensive. My family and I are in a very rough situation right now. I am asking for help not only for myself, but for my family as well. Our talent and hard work should not go to waste due to the unfortunate circumstances we came from. I was very skeptical of making this account and opening my heart to others, but at this point anything is worth a try. Anything will help. Thank you for your time.