Get Carly to Graduation!
Imagine: Walking onto campus your very first day of Orientation. You don't know anyone yet, you think your roommates are a little weird, you don't know where your classes are, and who are you going to eat lunch with tomorrow when your parents leave?!? You go through that weekend, find some freshman friends that (surprise!) feel the exact same way you do, and find out your roommates actually are just as normal as you are (read: we're all a little weird). You start your classes, try not to gain the freshman fifteen (spoiler alert: you do), and overall get used to this giant transition that freshman year is. Classes are demanding, there's lots of group projects, and then of course you can't miss any social events because, hello, you need to meet your life-long best friends right now or you'll miss the opportunity!!
At the same time, you're working five part-time jobs to pay for this whole experience. You actually at one point honestly convince yourself that you are completely fine and don't need sleep or food, even though everyone around you always has concerned looks on their faces when they ask, "How ya doing?" Your standard response is, "Great! How are you?" while being slightly confused at the worry in their eyes. A few months in, you collapse from the exhaustion, and while you eventually (a.k.a. years later) scale back on the amount of extracurriculars you are participating in, you keep going with this constant looming understanding that you will actually never be able to do enough to pay for school. Several times in the next few years, you actually take the time and brain power to calculate out how much you would have to work each week in order to make payments on time, but always come against some astronomical number.
Somehow, by the grace of God, the payments are always made (albeit, without fail, months late). But eventually, you reach senior year, and you have to graduate. In order to graduate, all of your payments must be made, like always. The difference is though, this time around, the payments must be made on time.* So, just like every other time of desperation, you calculate out the hours you will have to work per week to make the payments, but this time with the knowledge of this added pressure. There is no extra time of the next semester to complete the payments of the previous semester: there is no next semester. You type in the numbers, hit "equal," and right on your little phone screen, the number 43 pops up. 43 hours a week to pay for school on time. In addition to classes, leadership positions, and social engagements. Suddenly, you're working three jobs and having consistent panic attacks/anxiety episodes.
This is where I've found myself this past week. I picked up two jobs in addition to my usual one, working as an Undergraduate Admissions Intern at Azusa Pacific University. I'll be working full-time over Christmas break as a tutor for primarily students with ASD at Lindamood-Bell, and on Monday (Dec. 5) I start work at our Student Post Office! With these three jobs, I should be able to make around $1,500 before January, which will be extremely helpful! Next semester, I will be working 16 hours a week at the Student Post Office, and consistently a minimum of 6-8 hours in the Admissions office. I've also been applying non-stop to outside scholarships, and will be hearing back from some of them as early as December 15th. But, I still need help.
For those of you numbers people, here's the breakdown:
COSTS
Per Unit: 1,481 // Six Units: 8,886
Housing: 2,340
Dining Plan (required): 705
Parking Pass: 125
University Service Fee: 290
Balance from Fall ’16: 2,579
TOTAL COSTS: 14,925
AID
Scholarships: 2,750
Grants: 2,000
Loan: 1,875
TOTAL AID: 6,625
Left to Pay: 8,300
Christmas Break Money: 1,500
TOTAL BALANCE REMAINING: 6,800
Never have I regretted my decision to attend a four-year private university, because I truly believe that I am the person that I am today because of the people I have known and experiences I have had during these past three and a half years. Be it through mentors, professors, friends, classmates, bosses: all of these people have not only come alongside me with support and encouragement, but they have also really challenged me to figure out more and more who it is that God is calling me to be and to stand on my own two feet, readying me to step out into the real world with a knowledge and understanding of my worth, passions, identity, and abilities. Yes, I have had to make sacrifices during this time, but even with knowing what I know now about what this experience would cost me (monetarily and otherwise), every single time I would choose APU again and again.
Now, I’m asking you to partner with me in this process. I will continue to work and continue to apply for scholarships, but at the end of the day, I can only do so much. One of the biggest things that I have learned in these few years is that I am not superwoman: I have limits, I cannot do it all. For my own mental, emotional, and physical health, I am asking for your help in making this final semester of university one in which I do not have to continue living under this severe pressure of knowing I will never be able to do enough. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to be worthy of your investment, and I am so grateful for you even reading this far. Please let me know if you have any additional questions about my studies, community involvement, future plans, or anything else. Again, I am so grateful to you!
*For information on graduation requirements: http://catalog.apu.edu/undergraduate/academic-programs/graduation-requirements/