In the early 2000's life was easy for the modern family. Living in the suburbs were the norm for most families. Fresh off the eight years of Clinton being President, the United States seemed to be set up for a booming economy. Technology was on the up as well as innovation. Retailers were making record sales, the stock market was raising percentages daily, and the poverty rate was low.
2008 was when everything that could possibly go wrong with the economy went wrong. Exon Mobile, GM Motors, and companies like Hostess filed for bankruptcy after a stock market crash that would send America into a depression. The Federal Reserve of course came to the rescue and bailed GM motors out. Even though the Federal Reserve attempted to be the hero in this situation, people were still in the most stressing state the United States had seen since the market crash in the 1970's.
Looking at it from a victim standpoint, I know how it feels to suffer from this market crash. My dad filed for bankruptcy while I was in high school. He was in the car business which crashed with the market in 2008. This did not seem like a problem at the time, but it would soon turn into one for me. My high school counselor did little to nothing to help students get scholarships out of high school. The only thing she told us was to google scholarships and there would be plenty to choose from, but it takes a little more than just a Google search. I knew I wanted to go to college. I had the grades, the work ethic, and the motivation to succeed in college. The only thing that I was lacking was money. I could not qualify for loans because my father could not co-sign for me due to the filing for bankruptcy. Neither could he help me with college since he had his own financial struggles. I did not qualify for OLAP either; which is a government grant program that helps low income students. I am faced now to pay for college myself. I have no help from my counselor in high school nor my parents. I applied at many schools around the country. Every school I applied for I got accepted. The University of Central Oklahoma was my fourth option when it came to colleges I wanted to attend. The perk to UCO was that it was cheap. I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to go there.
So here I am, no money, no hope, and the world is always pestering me for the next dollar I make. College begins to hit me freshman year with all of the backdoor charges that are not advertised when you enroll. I feel the stress of everyday life weighing down on me like a two ton car. I felt like there was no escape, and I was only 18 years old. Sure, people "say" they came from nothing. That they worked their way to where they are with no help, but I disagree. You need help to get anywhere. You can't do it by yourself even if you are the most brilliant person to walk this Earth. I began to work odd jobs and doing what I could to get by. I soon applied for a scholarship my sophomore year of college and got it. I got this scholarship through someone I knew. They knew my struggle and helped me. I had the grades and the knowledge. I just didn't have guidance.
Here is where the government is involved. Oklahoma's higher education programs only cover the poverty line or low class families. OLAP will pay for your school if your parents are not in a certain bracket of income. What about the middle class families? The government says our families make enough money to support us, but in reality our families barely make enough money to support themselves. Higher education in Oklahoma has to be further analyzed. Middle class families are struggling more than ever. Seeing kids driving around BMW's and Mercedes really makes me wonder if it is fair to the other students that these students in upper class do not have to work. They don't have to pay for their school. They do not have to have the stress of LIFE. I am not trying to say that there should be one social class to where every citizen gets equal pay, equal rights, and so on and so forth, I a m not a communist, but I am tired of this unneeded stress that is put on the middle class student. In between work, school and organizations through the school middle class students hardly have time to sit down and relax. Believe it or not relaxing is actually good for you. Letting yourself rest will let you be a more effective employee, student and overall a better person.
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