Help Jarod Finish University

My name is Jarod Valencia-Cheng, my pronouns are They/Them, and I am a 4th-year student at the University of Iowa that should be on track to finish my degree in Creative Writing in May 2023. I say "should be on track," as I am in deep financial need that I have now resorted to pleading my case among loved ones and strangers over the internet because my family is not, and has never been, in the position to provide for my education financially. At the same time, my university pinballs me around more than several offices to beg for the little financial support that they can offer.

I ask that you spare whatever money you can--a dollar, even. If I can at least pay some of the $4,940.21 that I owe in tuition charges for this fall semester, I can either offset or eliminate the need to take out more loans through my university for the cost of my spring semester. All I want to do is get my bachelor's degree to apply for graduate school, something neither of my parents was ever allowed to do as immigrants from low-income homes who each needed jobs to support themselves alongside my younger brother and me. They did their best to raise me, and I refuse to burden them any longer by associating them with the predatory practice of student loans that I have to and want to pay off.

Inspired to attend the University of Iowa by a former high school teacher who is close to my heart, I came here to be educated by the best professors and peers and find a writing community. Instead, I've found that the University of Iowa offers little support for students from outside Iowa or Illinois, especially those who identify as BIPOC and LGBTQ+. I am fortunate to work hard as a Resident Assistant (RA) for the past two years, which has saved me some money, but not even that is enough as I still took out loans as an RA. I'm providing emotional and academic support to those in my communities, but this school is unwilling to invest in my education truly. This is despite my 3.87 GPA, my writing prospects (having taken and qualified for graduate-level writing classes as an undergraduate), and my contributions to the university community as an RA and activist working specifically on Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion--the latter supposedly being something the University of Iowa as a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) is dedicated to furthering.

In July 2021, my father, the cosigner for my private student loans, was hospitalized for total liver failure and partial kidney failure. He has recovered a lot since then, receiving a life-saving liver transplant. Still, the 8 months he spent in care at various hospitals left his credit in shambles due to my family losing his income, ~75% of my parents' household income. My mother has been working extra hours to tirelessly support him and my younger brother while my dad recovers from various surgeries until he is cleared to return to work. However, this left me with little possibility of taking out any more private loans to finance my senior year of college with a total of at least $80,000 in debt from federal and private loans combined.

I have exhausted every resource in almosy every available office on campus, combed throughout Iowa City for whatever jobs possible (limited when you're an RA), and Financial Aid is still saying the only option I can qualify for is a $5,000 loan (split between each semester), unless my 3rd attempt at an appeal to them indicates they may give me a grant of $2000 (also split), which they have lagged on for months.

My friends can tell you that I personally don't care for money, and I don't need it to enjoy my life. I don't need anything else if I can pay off this semester or the full year. I have the grit, the ability, and the spirit to make it into a graduate school that will care about who I am enough to pay me to attend classes and hopefully teach. All I want in my future is to ensure that no student of mine ends up in my position ever again.