Being Money Broke And In College
The Struggle is Real. Financial Struggles While In College…Are Real.
Earlier this year, The Flama published a piece by Barbara Gonzalez on the struggles of 4 Latinas while in college trying to make financial ends meet.
“It’s no wonder than many Latinos cite the main reason for going straight into the workforce instead of pursuing a degree is the price tag, also mentioning the need to support their families.” via The Flama.
Latinas are the go-to-resource in many of our families AND at times, right there along side mamá helping financially by budgeting, paying for bills and keeping everything else in order. We do in a way, play the part of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of our families, but ourselves? And while being in costly college?
Cristina O. cleaned houses alongside her mother on the weekends…. “I don’t help my mom clean houses because I enjoy it. I go because this is the job that she has been doing for 23 years. It is the job that she will continue to do to help me get through college and medical school. The least I can do is show her some gratitude by helping her clean houses when I have the time. This is a much more strenuous job, more than people think. Working with my mom reminds me why I am in school and why I chose to become a doctor. When I finally have MD after my name I hope to be able to repay my parents for everything they’ve had to do and sacrifice to put me through school.”
Elysee I. was not the only one in college and how she helped her sister… “Once it was time for my younger sister to go to college, there was simply no more money. I decided to move home with my parents to their small apartment in Washington Heights, so that my sister could use as much of my loan money as possible to live on campus while attending college in Boston. Despite all of this, I will probably be paying off my loans until I’m 40 or 50 years old.
Despite financial obstacles, these Latinas are making it happen…but is there a way to ease the struggle?