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More than $7 billion nationwide was wasted in five years toward

government grants sending low-income citizens to school. Yes, I

said wasted, because those people entered college, went for free

and never graduated.

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Five years ago when I entered college, I was 20, living on my own

(my parents were in Canada), and I was completely self-supporting

and wanted to further my education. I’ll never forget sitting in

the financial aid office, attempting to get a pell grant.

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Because I wasn’t 24, and was unmarried with no kids, Alabama had to

use my parents’ income statements in order to award me financial

assistance. Even though my Mom and Dad didn’t send me a cent,

financial aid was only interested in how much my parents made,

which appeared high because the cost of living where they lived was

three times what it is here. I was rejected.

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The advisor looked both ways, leaned over the desk and whispered,

“If you had yourself a kid, your education would be 100 percent

covered by the government, and then some.”

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Wow. How sick and twisted is that? In this country you’re literally

punished for not getting knocked up early, and rewarded for having

children with low income.

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There is something really wrong with that. I’ll end up graduating

this summer, no thanks to financial assistance from the state of

Alabama. I had to do it the hard way—picking up double shifts,

working two jobs, paying cash for school, books and expenses. You

know, the right way. 

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Or maybe I should’ve taken that woman’s advice. Maybe having a kid

would’ve been the right way. That way, I could’ve lived in

government housing, obtained food stamps, childcare and a college

education, sending the bill straight to the state.

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About half of those who start college will graduate. So I’m asking,

what incentives are there to finish? A great job? Unemployment is

through the roof. Perhaps a better income? Well, won’t plenty of

that paycheck be spent paying off thousands in student loans?

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 Maybe instead of wasting millions of dollars in this state on

people who will never graduate from college, they should pay for

the last year of all those students who did it with no help. Kind

of as a reward or appreciation for working hard and contributing to

the higher education of Alabama. 

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But they won’t. They’ll just continue to waste perfectly good money

on people who will never obtain a college degree.