Mission: Blair Graduation
Donation protected
I am a student of Atmospheric Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In December of 2016, I finished my next to last semester with a 4.0 and then on December 15th, I was told that I would not be granted any financial aid for the last 11 hours I needed to graduate in May.
The school's reasoning for this is due to a time limit vs number of hours taken. Since I am a transfer student, I have a multitude of hours taken at a previous institution over a longer period of time, as they did not have my program. Additionally, the ESS program at UAH was in its infancy when I entered and was structured so that it was very hard to finish in any accelerated fashion. Many courses were only offered one section one semester a year, which conflicted with other upper-level courses needed to graduate. They've worked very hard to fix this for future student needs. The Department of Atmospheric Science is awesome and my campaign should bear no reflection on them - should it need be said.
While I submitted an appeal the very same day, I was told by the Financial Aid office that it was in no way guaranteed that my case would be heard, much less approved, in the amount of time left between the 15th and the start of classes, January 9th. They suggested I investigate other sources of funding, including private loans. If you're a person with a bachelor's degree worth of student loans, you know very well that it's impossible to get a private loan without a full time job. It's also pretty far fetched to try and secure any sort of grant with less than a month of time, most of which is taken up by holidays.
So this is my hail Mary, so to say. I have three weeks to raise my tuition for my last semester ever in case the appeal doesn't get approved. If come Janurary 9th this hasn't been resolved, I will not be able to complete the degree I've worked so incredibly hard for.
Money raised from this campaign will go towards making sure that I'm able to pay for my tuition this spring. Any additional funds will be sent directly to my already existing student loans and their insane daily accruing interest ($5 a day, no freaking joke). If by some miracle my appeal is approved, the money raised will fill in the gaps not covered by my grant money and go to my existing student loans.
Any help is extremely appreciated. Even the smallest donation will help to ease my anxiety. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has sent their support.
The school's reasoning for this is due to a time limit vs number of hours taken. Since I am a transfer student, I have a multitude of hours taken at a previous institution over a longer period of time, as they did not have my program. Additionally, the ESS program at UAH was in its infancy when I entered and was structured so that it was very hard to finish in any accelerated fashion. Many courses were only offered one section one semester a year, which conflicted with other upper-level courses needed to graduate. They've worked very hard to fix this for future student needs. The Department of Atmospheric Science is awesome and my campaign should bear no reflection on them - should it need be said.
While I submitted an appeal the very same day, I was told by the Financial Aid office that it was in no way guaranteed that my case would be heard, much less approved, in the amount of time left between the 15th and the start of classes, January 9th. They suggested I investigate other sources of funding, including private loans. If you're a person with a bachelor's degree worth of student loans, you know very well that it's impossible to get a private loan without a full time job. It's also pretty far fetched to try and secure any sort of grant with less than a month of time, most of which is taken up by holidays.
So this is my hail Mary, so to say. I have three weeks to raise my tuition for my last semester ever in case the appeal doesn't get approved. If come Janurary 9th this hasn't been resolved, I will not be able to complete the degree I've worked so incredibly hard for.
Money raised from this campaign will go towards making sure that I'm able to pay for my tuition this spring. Any additional funds will be sent directly to my already existing student loans and their insane daily accruing interest ($5 a day, no freaking joke). If by some miracle my appeal is approved, the money raised will fill in the gaps not covered by my grant money and go to my existing student loans.
Any help is extremely appreciated. Even the smallest donation will help to ease my anxiety. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has sent their support.
Organizer
Blair Breitreiter
Organizer
Huntsville, AL
