Overheard around campus, the upsetting things people never even realize or hear themselves say: Floor survey: 2/3 of my floor last year received no financial aid.
If both my father and I worked full time, it would take us four years to save enough to pay for one year at Carleton.
"I feel like Carleton is stingy--other schools gave me scholarship offers, but I really wanted to come here."
I came to the only college that gave me any offer for scholarships at all. I didn't even have a choice, and thank God that I actually belong here.
"My parents offered to get me a car when I turned 16, but I didn't really see the need to go to driver's ed."
We have what is now a 25-year-old beater of a car. One car for the whole family because we can't afford another or even a newer one.
"Can you believe I have to go the post office again? My grandparents keep sending me stuff!"
My grandparents were immigrants. They could barely support themselves and could not even leave inheritance when they died.
"I can't stand the dining halls. They don't have any good food!"
Really? The person who remembers when we would discuss which bills to pay each month was just fine with rice, especially when it had anything else in it. The dining halls are nothing short of a miracle.
"I hate this Target; I can never find what I need."
What do you need? I have some clothes, not the best, but enough. I get my toiletries and books over break when I'm at home. What else can possibly take the same people to the stores every weekend?
"Hey, we're going out to the Cities this weekend. You coming?"
No. I don't have the money to go shopping with you, to go to bars with you, to cover tickets. And I can't stand asking anyone else to pick up the tab for me because I can't pay it back. I say, “No, midterms are just taking forever.”
The tone of my responses is perhaps a little bitter. But it hurts to hear that some people are just handed what I can only achieve through years of hard work. That kind of remark creates the expectation that everyone at college can do the same. I do not want to feel that I do not belong at college because I study hard. I do not want the only people at college to be the ones who can just pay their way.
I realize that if we were to switch positions, people would probably realize just how much material stuff they have in their lives. Maybe they would realize that they've never had to worry about money, and maybe even stop taking for granted the luxury of going to the Cities or on vacation every year. I think of the student so glibly refusing a car and think, "No one gives me a car. I'll have to buy my own years from now." I accept that, and I will be proud of myself when I have the funds to do it. I just want to ask that someone respect that we come from different backgrounds and that unfair expectations marginalize the rest of us.
- Anonymous
If both my father and I worked full time, it would take us four years to save enough to pay for one year at Carleton.
"I feel like Carleton is stingy--other schools gave me scholarship offers, but I really wanted to come here."
I came to the only college that gave me any offer for scholarships at all. I didn't even have a choice, and thank God that I actually belong here.
"My parents offered to get me a car when I turned 16, but I didn't really see the need to go to driver's ed."
We have what is now a 25-year-old beater of a car. One car for the whole family because we can't afford another or even a newer one.
"Can you believe I have to go the post office again? My grandparents keep sending me stuff!"
My grandparents were immigrants. They could barely support themselves and could not even leave inheritance when they died.
"I can't stand the dining halls. They don't have any good food!"
Really? The person who remembers when we would discuss which bills to pay each month was just fine with rice, especially when it had anything else in it. The dining halls are nothing short of a miracle.
"I hate this Target; I can never find what I need."
What do you need? I have some clothes, not the best, but enough. I get my toiletries and books over break when I'm at home. What else can possibly take the same people to the stores every weekend?
"Hey, we're going out to the Cities this weekend. You coming?"
No. I don't have the money to go shopping with you, to go to bars with you, to cover tickets. And I can't stand asking anyone else to pick up the tab for me because I can't pay it back. I say, “No, midterms are just taking forever.”
The tone of my responses is perhaps a little bitter. But it hurts to hear that some people are just handed what I can only achieve through years of hard work. That kind of remark creates the expectation that everyone at college can do the same. I do not want to feel that I do not belong at college because I study hard. I do not want the only people at college to be the ones who can just pay their way.
I realize that if we were to switch positions, people would probably realize just how much material stuff they have in their lives. Maybe they would realize that they've never had to worry about money, and maybe even stop taking for granted the luxury of going to the Cities or on vacation every year. I think of the student so glibly refusing a car and think, "No one gives me a car. I'll have to buy my own years from now." I accept that, and I will be proud of myself when I have the funds to do it. I just want to ask that someone respect that we come from different backgrounds and that unfair expectations marginalize the rest of us.
- Anonymous