Letter to the Editor: Don’t let people abusing system harm hardworking individuals

Stephanie Hooie

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I was offended when I read an article in the Nov. 11 issue entitled

“I’m wondering, where is my pell grant?” written by Jenn Lyles. I

understand that what happened to Mrs. Lyles was unfair, but that

does not mean that she should put everyone who receives financial

assistance into the same category. 

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I know that there are many people in this country who do everything

Mrs. Lyles speaks of. There are low-income people who think they

should not have to do anything and have everything handed to them.

I come from a low-income family, but it is not one like those

described in the article. 

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Both of my parents work themselves to death for next to nothing.

They make just enough to pay the bills, buy a few groceries, and

put gas in the car to return to work the next day. They do not

receive welfare, get food stamps, or live in government housing.

They work for everything we have. 

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I moved to Florence over the summer. My parents can’t afford to pay

for me to live here or go to school. So, I got a job at a nursing

home so that I could pay my bills. The work is exhausting, but I

have to do it. 

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I’m 18 years old; I don’t have a child, and I pay for everything on

my own. My pell grant is the only outside help that I have to pay

for school. Would it be fair to take it away just because we fit

into the “low-income citizens” category? 

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Yes, I understand there are students out there that enter college

on the pell grant and never graduate. I think that this is a

problem of not wanting it enough. If you want something bad enough,

you have to work for it. That is what I have done. All through high

school, I worked hard to have good grades. I scrimped and saved

every penny so that I could pay to take dual enrollment

classes. 

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When I graduated in May, I was academically ranked third in my

class. Because of my hard work, I will be a sophomore in the

spring. So far, I have only made one B in my college courses.

Everything else has been A’s. I feel like all the hard work has

been worth it. I felt hurt when I read that “the money is wasted on

people who will never earn a college degree.”

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 I do not feel like the money that I have received is wasted, since

I work hard and make good grades. I will graduate from college even

though there are people out there that think that since I am from a

low-income background, I will never succeed. 

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While I agree with Mrs. Lyles that the system the government uses

to award financial aid is unfair to some people, I do not agree

that the government should stop giving financial aid to low-income

people completely. There are other people out there like me,

hardworking individuals that come from a family without a lot of

money, that depend on their pell grant to pay for college. 

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By taking away that money, many deserving students would never have

the opportunity to go to college. Before grouping all low-income

citizens into one broad category, get to know the ones that don’t

fit the stereotype. 

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Don’t let the ones who abuse the help from the government harm the

hardworking ones that don’t. 

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