As an Hispanic student, paying for college expenses may seem daunting. After all, the media is constantly citing raising tuition costs and, out of all groups in America, Hispanics have some of the lowest college rates, and tend to attend the cheapest colleges possible.
College Education Doesn’t Need to Be As Expensive As You Think
Despite rising tuition fees, there are still plenty of programs available at lower costs. You don’t have to go for the cheapest universities, however. Hispanic students should take advantage of all that’s available to them to help pay for fees and go to the institution of their choice, rather than what they believe their income dictates.
Help Available to You
Student Studying
You don’t need to apply for a student loan and risk getting into debt when paying for college expenses. There are many types of aid available to students, including programs specifically geared towards students of Latino and Hispanic descent. As a group, Hispanics tend to rely on their own income to pay for the costs of education. However, a number of scholarships can help to take the pressure off, by paying for a percentage, or all, of the fees associated with the college course you’re interested in.
Other options include putting money into specific college funds as early as possible before going to college, applying for federal grants, or checking with the college directly to find out about means-based grants.
Why Getting Financial Aid Is So Important
Although there are benefits of paying for college yourself, such as avoiding getting into debt, not looking for free cash available to you does have its drawbacks. Firstly, you could be limiting your options simply because you don’t realize how much is available to you. Secondly, dropout rates are a lot higher for those who pay for themselves. Most need to work to carry on paying for college expenses, putting too much pressure on students who feel they can’t put necessary time and focus into their studies.
I would like to go back to school,but too many of these scholarships ask too many requirements. Most of us Mexicans can’t meet up to these requirements. Plus,trying to win some of these scholarships is like trying to win the lottery. And FAFSA doesn’t help you out that much. It should be easier to win scholarships,especially for Hispanics. I have applied for a lot of scholarships and only won 2 back in 2006!
I do not understand what you mean by “It should be easier to win scholarshipes, especially for Hispanics”. Are you saying that Hispanics are not capable of meeting requirements and criteria like anyone else. I believe that if you work hard or dedicate yourself to what you want to accomplish then you will get there. They are not going to give grants or scholarships to just anyone that applies, first of all because of the lack of funds, and second of all because not everyone merits a grant/scholarship. Anyways, I am Hispanic, I am 21, I work full-time to support my 3 year old daughter, and go to school full time. I do what I can to meet those requirements, but it’s not always possible, so it just gives me the motivation to work harder through all the obstacles I encounter.
Attending college has been something that nobody in my family has ever been able to experience. It seems as though it is so easy to access but what is the most difficult is accessing the funds to attend. I am a full time student and have a part time job and dont have a single person that can help me pay for my apartment and my college bill and yet I still to not qualify to recieve even one cent to go to school. It saddens me that hispanics are looked down app-on but when you work so hard and there is not a single person willing to help because you are hispanic it can be very discouraging. Then they wonder why hispanics dont bother attending college