First In the Family

I think you should start freshman year. Things are easier when you think ahead of time: “Okay, what does it take for me to graduate from high school, what does it take for me to get into college?” In Oakland public schools, you need only two years of math. You could very well graduate from high school and not have the required courses to get into college. So you have that out. Then ask, “What are some possible colleges that I can get into?” The earlier you start, the easier it is for you to be picky, to choose something that you really like. You want to have a list of what it is you’re going for in a school, so you can rule some schools out. –Niema

There’s always going to be this tension of “You don’t understand.” You’re like, “Well, you didn’t go, so you don’t know!” When you start going through the stress, like “Who’s going to accept me, where am I going to apply, how am I going to get this money,” you have to realize that your parents are just as stressed about the situation as you are. Maybe they’re not going through the exact same thing, but you are their child, and so they’re going through the anxiety. –Niema

Doing the financial aid forms, that whole process was hard. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing—I would sit down at the computer and just cry! I would just look at the screen like, “What are you asking me? I don’t know what this means! I don’t have this! Mom, as busy as you are, sit down with me, help me.” And dealing with a parent who does not know how to use a computer, that was the longest process of my life—like, “Mom! What are you doing!!”
My advice is just keep a record of what you’re doing in the whole process. Have Social Security numbers handy, have bills handy, keep all your receipts, keep all your bank statements if you have them. Through the whole process, I put together a binder of everything I was supposed to have, copies and dates of stuff that I turned things in, student loans, promissory notes, all that stuff. Even for stuff that I had to do online. I printed it out, and I have all of it. You’re going to have to send multiple copies of multiple copies of the same thing!
The hardest thing was trying to pinpoint what our income was. And I know the financial aid committee was like, “You’ve got to be kidding, this kid has nothing, I mean nothing!” I never had to do something like that before, having to prove our living situation. And because it’s already below the poverty level, trying to explain why when they say, “This doesn’t match up, how are you able to survive off of just this?” –Eric

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