College tuition

Hello, my name is Tyler Parker and I am in my final semester of my Biomedical Engineering degree at Colorado State University. Throughout my time at college I've had some struggles with mental health as well as familial issues. When starting college my grandmother with dementia was living with my mother and was dependent upon my parent’s income. Along with the financial burden it also created a mental burden as it was exhausting to return home and be bombarded with the same things from her. I tried to deal with it in the best ways possible but that coupled with school anxiety and stress forced me to stay in Colorado during most of my undergrad. The financial burden initially from my grandmother forced me to take out predatory loans at high interest rates. I was only able to get them through the goodwill of family friends who could cosign as my parent’s credit is horrible due to losing our house in the market crash. To top off the struggles of my undergrad, my grandmother was sent to live in a home so my mom could get a job to help better support me. A week later my mother and stepfather were involved in a car accident which has put huge stresses in our lives such as medical bills and insurance agents pestering my parents every move. This has crippled her and kept her from being able to try and support me financially. 

I have resorted to asking you all for your help due to these burdens. I am in my final semester and need ~9,000 dollars to fund my semester. I am asking for lower than that due to my job as a server. I calculated that I should be able to make up the rest if you all can help me out with the first 5,500. I am not a star student but I am a hard worker. My GPA was thrashed my freshman year due to the constant state of flux my family was in, but I've been on the mend with constant 3.0+ semesters since. While in school I helped get a club water polo team on its feet, I've established a fraternity to help make men better, and most importantly I've tried to make meaningful impacts in my school career. In the summer of 2018 I got a scholarship to study abroad in Ecuador to help rural populations get access to healthcare. Through this experience I helped deliver over 16 prosthesis to 20 patients. I kept this momentum going by applying for funding for my senior design project. This project aims to create a tool that prosthetist's can use to better understand the tissue they are working with to create 3D printed prosthetic sockets. I would love to continue this type of meaningful work into my career or grad school, but I need y'alls help. 

I appreciate whatever you can do to help, even words of advice/encouragement!