Emergency Grad School Tuition for La’Ria

 

Hello, my name is La’Ria and in February I found out that I was accepted into OSU’s Masters Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner program! This has been a dream of mine for quite some time and I’ve spent the last 2.5 years taking classes and working/preparing to even just apply for the program. Becoming a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner is so important to me because not only do we need more Black healthcare providers, we need more Black professionals specifically working in the mental health realm. I plan to focus my studies on those at the intersection of Blackness and disability. I have no doubt I’ll excel in this program and I want to chance to do so, but right now there are a lot of financial barriers in place for me.

 

Just like in undergrad, I planned to work full time during grad school. I found a new job that would help pay for all of my tuition and I thought I landed it and was so excited to start, but unfortunately yesterday I found out the job fell through. Since it fell through I now have to figure out how to pay 100% of my tuition on my own. My classes begin June 6th, but the first tuition payment is due May 3rd. The tuition for my summer term alone is $10k and the fall term will be the same cost (not including books and program specific materials). I set the GFM at $10,000 to help cover the remaining cost of tuition after student loans kick in.

I’m trying not to get overwhelmed and just focusing on getting through these first couple of terms. I’m taking out student loans, but unfortunately they only cover half the cost of each term. My job I currently have let me retract my 2wk notice and is letting me stay on, but I will be forced to drop down to part time, only able to work 2 days a week, once June comes around and what I’ll make will barely cover my monthly housing expenses.

 

I am not one to usually ask for help even if I really truly need it and even making this now has my stomach turning. I like to manage things on my own, but with the encouragement of my family/friends, they told me I should put the ask out there. I’m not expecting people to donate and understand that everyone is stretched thin, but if you have anything to offer it would help me greatly!