Hello!

My name is Leilani Figueroa. I am an upcoming Howard University freshman majoring in Psychology and looking to double major in Environmental Science on the pre-vet track.

I am in dire financial need. As a first-generation college student, I have had to navigate schooling mostly by myself. My family is not academic, but I graduated with honors: 4.0 GPA, celebrated violinist, varsity scholar lacrosse athlete, artist, and completed 7 APs in two years with over 15 honor classes.

My junior year of high school, because of my extensive family issues, I was in and out of mental hospitals and effectively lost my GPA and transcripts.

My senior year was spent in and out of counselor offices taking final exams for my junior year classes: AP Physics, AP United States History, Spanish 2 Honors, AP Language, Mastery Orchestra, and AP Precalc. All while handling my current classes: AP Environmental Science, AP Economics, AP Calculus AB, Mastery Orchestra, and Spanish 3 Honors. I didn’t receive my amended transcript until March. I was unable to actually apply to any schools until then. At the same time, I was also dealing with the loss of my father due to him completely leaving our family in an incredibly violent way.

My mother became a single mother of 4, with me being the only one trying to get to college. By some miracle, Howard accepted me. I didn’t have many acceptances due to my issues with my transcripts and other scenarios, but I was overjoyed. I was not only able to go to school but go to school as a first-generation student into a Black private Ivy.

I had a scholarship, but my FAFSA still has not gone through. I was forced to commit to Howard without seeing my aid offer. It has been an endless fight to receive any aid from FAFSA or my school. Every time I reached out, I was told something different: “You have to wait,” “We can’t do anything,” “Talk to your school,” “Wait for a paper form,” etc.

In this fight, I did not receive any information from Howard until two days ago after I pestered every single officer of financial aid I could find. I was told that the Department of Education's inquiry that I just had to wait for the school to process it was false. Again, I have been sent on a wild goose chase with a balance of 15k due in August.

My family is moving away without me on the assumption that I would be able to go to school. The plan was to pack my entire life up and move me over to DC. If I can’t go to school I will have no home.

Please, all I want to do is get to school, but this price is just unaffordable, and so far, if my FAFSA still does not process, there is not much for me to do.