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60k Education

The college town of New York State, the place where the university demographics and social class contradicts the city, Syracuse, NY. If you step one foot out of Syracuse University you witness some type of hardship. Syracuse.com does say that Syracuse has the nation’s highest poverty concentrated on Blacks and Hispanics and that one of every two children live in poverty. This is very surprising because once you step foot back on campus, the whole dynamic changes. A lot of people who attend this university can probably buy a house in Syracuse with the money they spend on tuition yearly. Other people, like myself are only here solely because of financial aid. Without it, I would not be in WRT-105 right now writing this blog. Many students here had to fly across the country and even the world to attend SU. Everyday I see foreign exchange students driving Maserati’s and BMW’s while I’m climbing the mount in my Jordan’s. I do find this fairly intimidating knowing that I will probably have to purchase my first car with my own money years from now after I begin my career. So, in my short time here at Syracuse University I’ve come to the conclusion that my financial status does not come close to many of the students here on campus.

Week one goes by, AKA “syllabus week”. I find out which textbooks I have to purchase and how much they cost. The total comes to almost $600 for three textbooks and a “clicker”, $150 for MAT 221, $180 for BIO 121, and $200 for CHE 107. At that moment I already knew what my parents were going to think. As my stumbling hands and fingers went to add my mother and father to a group chat, I knew that I didn’t even make that amount of money over the summer working at Dibella’s and when I finally built up the courage to tell my parents how much the total came to, they didn’t believe me. So my sister and I tried to go on Chegg, Amazon, Google, basically anywhere to try to find these textbooks for cheaper. We ended up finding just one for cheaper and as anyone can guess, that was not a good thing. Sitting in my lectures with small sweat droplets perspiring from my face, my professors tell us that we will have assignments due in the next few days that go along with the textbooks that we were supposed to buy. This sends unpleasing thoughts through my head as I think about how college literally just started and I am already behind. Week two goes by and I get enough money to buy two out of the three textbooks. I am now able to complete the homework, which is now late, that goes along with the textbook. Week three goes by and I finally have enough money to buy my final textbook, even though there was a homework assignment due the week before, I was extremely happy that I purchased it. Going back to the first time I went to the bookstore to find out how much the textbooks cost, I saw many other students with three or four books stacked on one another struggling to hold them in the line that wrapped around the book shelves. The only worry in their minds was not being able to hold the heavy, thick books for the length of time that they were going to have to wait in line for. For myself, I wished that that was my only worry as I awkwardly made a loop around the bookstore looking at prices, then making my way to the exit without a Syracuse University Bookstore bag in my hand. This moment was probably the first moment that I realized that a pretty good percentage of students that attend SU do not struggle like I do financially. After having to buy all three textbooks, my Bank of America bank account was almost wiped out and so were my parents.

On a daily basis while sitting in my single room in Flint Hall with the door open since the temperature outside was hotter than expected, I was asked if I wanted to go out to eat, or to the mall, or even to DJs for Thirsty Thursdays; I had to turn them down. That is not a good thing to do especially since I am a freshman and, on top of that, I don’t even have a roommate. I really do want to say yes buy my bank account is telling me no. So, I catch myself texting my mom asking for $10 to go to lunch at Chipotle or to get into DJs while my friends have no problem swiping their platinum debit cards. It has been tough to find friends that come from a similar financial background because its not like I can just go up to someone and ask if they are struggling to get by like me. I would consider myself as an unknown outsider because I don’t come across as someone who can’t afford the college lifestyle, even though I do. It sounds crazy to me when i hear of somebody only receiving $10k in financial aid and paying $50k to go here and still have the nerve to walk around with his or her Louis Vuitton book bags. To add on top of the Louis Vuitton book bags, on weekends they are used to carry at least $40 worth of alcohol. Just the other night I was asked to help this guy pick out which of his Burberry shirts he should wear to a party. It takes the simplest of experiences to tell whether or not a student here lives luxuriously while not at school. For the first time ever I saw someone riding one of those hover board things, or what ever they’re called, around campus that I’ve only seen famous people ride in videos on Instagram (I could’ve used that money for my textbooks).

All in all, my first month at Syracuse University has been one to remember. My struggle will continue for the rest of my time here at SU, but it has motivated me to accomplish the goals in my life. I’ve experienced many intimidating social class differences in my short time here, just like any other freshman in my position. But, I have no doubt that paying $60k for one-ply toilet paper and no air conditioning will pay off in the end.

#Deep #C'sGetDegrees #StudentLoansMakeMeGroan #60kAintNoThang

First Week of Summer Vacay!

Hey everyone,

So I cannot believe I have not told you guys yet, but I ended up passing my Chem final with a “B,” so I got a C+ overall for my chem class. It is not exactly the best grade in the world, but since I do not have to retake it again, I will gladly take my C+ and run with it. Organic Chemistry is next on my schedule. I have heard so many stories about it and I can confidently say that I am already scared to death!

Anyways, today I got to hang out at my old high school with some of my bestest friends. Got lots of hugs from different people and a sweet early birthday gift! ^.^

Birthday Countdown: 29 days!

Current Music Obsession: 幾分傷心幾分痴 - Dave Wong

#C'sgetdegrees #Chemistry #Passed #Final