Help Anna Get Her Life Back

Hi,

My name is Brianna (Anna). I’m a Chemistry major in my senior year at CSULB. For the past year and a half I have been funded through monthly NIH scholarships of $1100/month as my sole income source to conduct undergraduate research in the BUILD Scholars program. Prior to that, I survived off student loans/grants because I am legally disabled with a service dog and working a non-industry job while in studying chemistry is too difficult for me. Anyone who lives in California knows that this small stipend is not enough money to live comfortably, so I had to ignore certain financial burdens to get by without family support - including the DMV’s annual vehicle registration and tickets related to the lack of registration. (Not to mention that I paid $1k+ this semester when my dog needed emergency vet services.)

For those who don’t know, I recently left an abusive living situation and was moved into emergency student housing at the CSULB dorms while I attempted to find an apartment willing to accept a 6 month lease that would allow me to move for graduate school without addition financial/legal penalties. Unfortunately, I woke up on 12/19 to find a voicemail from the campus police stating that my car had been towed around 3am for the expired registration. They informed me that in order to get it back I would need to pay off the all the late fines from the last two years and register/insure my vehicle which at this point would total nearly $2000.

Being that my car is old and hasn’t been able to pass smog, I would also need to be able to pay for the repairs to make my car safe to drive. At this point, I’m not entirely sure if it is worth it as that would cost me another $2000 minimum. I don’t know if I am able to buy/register a new vehicle without paying the fines on the old one (if you know about this please let me know).

However, additional complications are added into the mix because my stay in the emergency student housing will be expiring on Tuesday 12/21. Without a car to sleep in, my dog and I will be homeless in the streets. This entire situation was something uncomfortable for me to discuss, so please do not judge me so harshly for my situation. I thought if I could push through until I was admitted into a well funded graduate program that I’d be better able to pay back these debts, but I no longer have that choice. This is the edge of my breaking point and the reason I am sharing this now.

My dog and I need assistance and will accept it in any form possible. If you know someone with an apartment/house who can accommodate us with housing or if you are able to donate any amount - big or small - to get me into a vehicle again, we humbly ask for your help. Thank you for reading.