Hey y'all, I'm LP Kindred and I'm a Chicagoan-Angeleno writer, editor, podcaster, and teaching artist of speculative fiction from my Black and Queer Identities. I've published short stories in journals, magazines, anthologies, and podcasts in hallowed halls like Carnegie Hall's 2022 Afrofuturism Festival, LeVar Burton Reads, and Escape Pod. I've guest edited issues of magazines as well as co-editing VOODOONAUTS PRESENTS: (RE)LIVING MYTHOLOGY. I co-host Just Keep Writing, a podcast for writers, by writers, to keep you writing.

I'm reaching out because I need help paying for my penultimate semester at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2024, I moved back to Chicago after 18 years in Los Angeles to finish my Bachelors in Fine Arts in Writitng at SAIC. My move was fraught but it was the right choice: I could not have imagined how much growth I'd experience as an artist and as a writer.

I learned from interested parties that when I sent my application materials as a transfer student, the office that decides on merit scholarships didn't consult with the Writing Department on what an appropriate scholarship package would look like for me. Since merit scholarships aren't up for appeal, there's no recourse for apparent mismanagement.

My financial aid package included PLUS Loans, which are only available to parents of undergrads and grad students: accepting them would mean committing fraud but I should never have been sent PLUS loans as an option as a 42-year-old applicant.

In my first semester, I met freshman whose package was 3x mine and I asked where he'd published. His response? "I haven't." That's when I realized something was wrong with my entry assessment. The formula for merit assessment involves GPA, extracurriculars, standardized tests but not my lived experience or publishing experience.

And that's been my struggle. My professional accolades hold no value in this bureaucratic setting because if this institution valued my accolades, I would not have to fight this hard to stay in school.

If you've followed my journey, you know that my housing situation was booty when I got to Chicago (See: PLUS Loans) and that last year I crowdfunded to skid into school for my very first Spring Semester. I've come this far by the grace of community...

And... NOW I'M A SENIOR! Not only that, I worked on programming for World Fantasy Con in Oakland this year. I'm running programming for a con next year. I finished a craft book with my homie Kate Maruyama in September and turned it in to an interested publisher. I made a breakthrough on my novel work-in-progress, plan to use two novellas as my thesis project in the Spring, am applying to grad school right now, and just broke out a killer idea for a Gay Horror novel. All of which is generative work, none of which pays upfront. Still, I'm cooking with gas! ... in spite of the Art Institute.

Look, I was publishing before I got to SAIC and I'll be publishing afterward, right now I'm trying to put the money together register for my final semester and line up my graduation.

I do pretty well at my survival job (rent, food, a little extra) but it is part-time because full-time employment isn't possible with the 5 classes we're expected to take - the curriculum is rewarding but rigorous.

I've been able to pay $4,000 of my tuition this semester. There's a $7,700 balance. I continue to pay on it but cannot catch up before my registration date in mid-November.

I hate exhibiting this level of vulnerability but avoiding an additional semester means avoiding rising tuition costs and ensuring my graduation.

I want to thank you for any support you can muster, whether that's financial, proseletyzing on my behalf, or sharing to your people because no show of support is too small.