Hello,
My name is Michelle Phelps. My current occupation is Financial Aid Advisor and I work for a very prestigious university. I've been in this position for 10 years and have seen and spoken to many students and their families in regards to getting a higher education. The one thing that I have experienced as a former undergrad/graduate student is that too many families are unprepared to send their children to college. My parents included was unprepared for sending me off to college.
I come from a working lower middleclass family of five where my parents just made enough to sustain our household but not enough to put away for my college education. There are many families like mine today. However, I was lucky. My parents were able to support me up to my sophomore year of college and then I was on my own. There are some students who weren't as lucky as I was. I also went out of state so my parents were also paying out of state tuition costs. We did not qualify for federal financial aid because they made just enough income to be on the cut off where I was not eligible for grant funding, only loans. Of course I was totaly oblivious to what my parents were going through just to send me. However, I had a drive in me that was instilled back in grade school and I was determined to find a way to complete my college education. Needless to say, I did find a way and am proud to be a graduate of higher education. This sounds like a story that i'm sure you can relate to.
After speaking with so many families, I've come to the conclusion that Parent's should not be the only one's concerned about sending their children off to college. It should also be the concerns of their children, friends and relatives, teachers, counselor,administrators,etc. It should be a whole community. But, I believe that it starts from the child and whether seeking or achieving a higher education was instilled in them like mine was.
In my experience as a financial aid advisor, families need to start thinking about their childrens future at birth. Once they become grade school age (early as five years of age), talk to them about going to college. Incorporate your knowledge or lack of to motivate them to be responsible for earning and achieving their own grant/ scholarship funding for their higher education. Because of my experience and understanding of the extreme importance a higher education is for our future generations, i've created a scholarship program that does involve everyone in assisting children to earn scholarship funding for their dreams and goals. I feel very passionate that it's most important especially with the current state of our economy. The name of the program is MBP Healthy Living for Youth Scolarship Program,
I want to thank you for reading this and hope you generate the passion that I have to ensure and secure our future generations place in their society. Pretty soon we will have to rely on them to carry on in positivity.
Sincerely,
Michelle Phelps
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