Lila's Tuition Fund: A Family's Struggle

Hello, my name is Jessica and I'm here asking for help with college tuition for our daughter, who desperately deserves all life has to offer.

Lila has always gone above and beyond when it comes to her schooling. Not only did she graduate with high honors, she is an ambassador for the STEM program, a president in AVID for 6 years, earned a Seal of Biliteracy in ASL, in Ballet de Folkorico for 3 years, a contestant in the Miss Fallbrook pagent, a mentee in AAUW and always serving her community.

Lila was accepted and attending California State University Fullerton in August with a major in Biology and Molecular Sciences. Her plans are to become a Physician's Assistant to help other patients like her dad.

My husband was diagnosed with a tumor inside his spinal cord in 2008, after initially going to the doctor 2 years prior for back pain, and being brushed off because he was only 30 and worked in construction repeatedly. Two weeks after Lila and her twin brother, Nicolas, turned two my husband had surgery to remove the tumor. Due to the late diagnosis, the tumor covered 90% of his spinal cord on 2 separate levels and started cutting off spinal cord fluid. This left him a paraplegic with constant chronic pain for the rest of his life, and making him unable to work.

Because my husband is unable to work, I have had two full time jobs for the last 3 years just to make ends meet. We have had money saved up for her tuition, but in May my husband had to have emergency surgery and was sedated in the ICU for a week. Due to this I had to take 2 weeks off of both jobs, and we had to dip into the college fund to stay a float and we are still playing catch up.

Lila didn't qualify for the Pell Grant when we did her FASFA because of my two jobs. It doesn't take into account that my husband is on disability and we are a single parent income. And this has hurt her financial aid tremendously. She has applied for multiple scholarships, but haven't had a response yet.

She deserves her education and shouldn't be punished for her father's disability. She will go far in life if given the chance.

Thank you in advance for all your help and donations. We appreciate anything and everything provided. And if you cannot donate...please please share our story.

Thank you for your time in reading and your consideration.