Transgender and in College?
For trans people, seeking a college education is a multi-faceted issue for students worldwide. My focus in particular is in the U.S. The most obvious issue is discrimination, which can take many forms. The most extreme, of course, is the repeated violent acts and hate crimes against us. I’m from Florida, where Black trans people have been murdered over the last year in Tallahassee, Orlando, Miami, Jacksonville, and more. It is frightening and sickening to see the violence against our community. Many of my friends find it difficult to leave the house because of stares and intrusive or mocking speech. Add to that the intense pressure of learning, being present in class every day, and paying for an education, and college becomes to seem like an insurmountable task. We are already, in most cases, barely scraping by with our jobs to afford necessities like our rent, food, and if we can get it, our hormone replacement therapy. I consider myself an extremely lucky individual that I can cover these costs and have some energy left over to pursue my education. If we had more access to free healthcare, affordable housing, and scholarships and grants made specifically for our marginalized community, I believe there would be a much larger population of trans people at schools nationwide.
Over time, we just begin to accept the jobs and positions we are in. The looming task of furthering education grows less and less important. For workers, this is encouraged. Many dismal jobs want nothing more than uneducated workers to which they can exploit to the fullest degree. Employers for minimum wage and entry-level jobs do not want the best for their employees (if they did, they would pay more and provide benefits and paid time off). No one is immune to this, but it is especially a relevant phenomenon in the trans community. On the other end of the spectrum of workers, college students quite frequently seem to have a financial fallback in their families. For many trans people, this is not possible. Many of my friends have a very tenuous relationship with their biological families if they are even in their lives at all. We must support each other, as a chosen family. But mutual support does not solve the very real financial crises we face. This is why many of us feel we cannot achieve higher level learning; the opportunities simply are not practical.
I hope this can enlighten anyone on my page who reads this. I know it seems like a maudlin rant, but it is my feeling that these burdens need to be shared so we can try to overcome them together. I am applying for the Transgender First Scholarship so that I can put my best foot forward to overcome the obstacles in college: not only as a trans person, but as a worker and a human. Thank you.
https://www.onlinedegree.com/transgender-first-scholarship
