Dependent on Dependency
[11.12.06]
To make matters worse employers more and more are requiring some kind of degree to take any kind of positions that could afford decent living. Without some kind of college education whether it be an bachelors/associates degree or even a certification in some kind of skill most employers won't even meet your at the door. Thus, for those without willing parents, are faced to work factories or serve the public with cheese burgers. There are few other alternatives such as programs offered by UPS or McDonald's, however, all have a catch and all only help so much enough to help you excel in their corporation. The last standard alternative to loans from the government is getting help from it by serving it in the armed services. On top of being hard to get into (contrary to what most believe), staying eligible while waiting for a position, and passing training, it also holds many risks while are country is in military conflicts or rather war. All in all, it is the most productive alternative to going straight to a university or working dead end jobs trying to eek out an existence. Ads repeatedly bombard us with promises for a better future by paying for college and offering benefits but they do not tell you of the inherit work related dangers, rigorous training, or even the long and agonizing wait to even book a job that I am going through at the moment.
The laws for previous generations were that your dependency depended on whether or not your parents listed you on their tax return. Thus, being legal adults and automatically emancipated at 18, you could acquire loans from the federal government to go to school even if your parents were not cooperative for whatever reason. On the flip side, it was because of this ease to acquire money they abused it, of course, by using the money for non-academic reasons or simply refusing to pay it back. It is in the best interest for a government to see its constituents educated beyond public school as without it, the population would suffer in many areas. This is the reason for the loans existing as without them most would not be able to put themselves through college in order to receive a college degree telling potential employers that you know what you're doing and that they should give you that "dream job." One note to make though, is that if the loans were not available, the colleges could not charge budget crushing tuition charges (among other fees) because little to no one could attend and they would eventually be forced to close their doors. For the most part the system works, the high school student applies for scholarships and gets his/her parents' cooperation (ultimately their signature and income information) to fill out the FAFSA and the financial doors open to loans and grants. The parents begin paying their loans while the student goes through college and the student pays for his loans six months after they graduate. The student may or may not also have to pay back their parents as well, depends on their relationship, opinions, and views. However, the whole system breaks down if the parents do not cooperate. There are very few alternatives that I talked somewhat about earlier. This is a real problem and I am not alone. Also, am I an adult or not?! Why should I need my parents information to go to school to gain a better future for myself? Apparently the government views the parent responsible for their children until age 24. This is contrary to the social understanding of you no longer being a child at 18. Like most things, there seems to be a grace period.
Some have suggested clever ways to get around the system. Even though I am emancipated from my parents I could still be adopted by someone else and use their information to receive loans from the Department of Education. I thought of this potential loop whole, but being burned by my parents I am a little reluctant. I almost went ahead and forged by parents signature (in the form of a pin issued by the Feds) after I gathered their tax return information from a source. Once I read the consequences of doing so I stop shortly afterwards. Others have suggested the obvious and tell me to wait out the grace period (until I am 24) and go about it solo. However, this is such a dangerous endeavor because life will go on possibly taking you to a position where it is just not feasible to go to school any longer (having a kid, getting married, work). Further more, you can't always live with family so you're going to need to work and working while going to school is a recipe for disaster. Either you flunk out because you just don't have enough time for exams because you rather have food in your cupboards or school takes an embarrassingly long time to finish. For those who say otherwise there was something at work that afforded them to work while going to school and actually finished with good grades and in a decent amount of time. To go to school and finish on time with decent grades you will not be able to work much and thus either you need massive amounts of money at hand, helping family or friends, or huge life bearing debts. For myself, considering I want to develop games professionally for a company and eventually for myself one day, I am building a game (which I am even working on as I write this) that I hope to take from idea to currency. This is the plan Z that I hold onto as it only requires me and I can only let myself down or only I can get in the way of myself and not someone else. If it works (and I pray it does) I could possibly pay for the endeavor or possibly make a profit otherwise if it fails it could at least connect with me the right person or catches the right persons attention that could put me into a position to get a job.
At the moment, I am going to continue with my choice of joining the military to get money for school. If it takes much longer I may drop out of the DEP and pursue getting adopted to go to school. Either way, I believe the laws should be changed to get around the dependency issue. I feel like starting a campaign to write congressmen and senators to work on changing the laws so that students can still get loans minus their parents. College cost way too much to go it alone without the help of the government and/or your parents. I believe that the various branches are making their quotas just because of the opportunity to go to school. Even if you do get a loan, the amount of time needed to pay it of while your in your career is just astronomical. The theory goes that you take on this debt now which will afford you a job later that has the ability to pay it off in a decent amount of time. This isn't always the case, some pick majors and minors or careers that doesn't afford the money it took to get them. Will I ever get to go to school? Will I make it through the military in one piece just so I can be educated for employers who demand it when they themselves were able to work there way up or who were given a chance on some generations ago? When I did attend school (a community college mind you and paid for everything out of pocket) I felt more alive and in tune with the world around me. Being out of school now for a year has left me feeling left behind with my mind slowly turning to mush only needing to be used when I do my monthly finances. Maybe I should continue my education on my own learning about subjects that I know I will have to take. I wouldn't have the paper proof that I learned such material but the proof would be in my self taught knowledge. In the year and a half of college that I did have, so far, it ultimately taught me how to learn. Maybe I'll do that or maybe I'll go insane or maybe I'll continue to write articles and you'll continue to read them. God knows my long life time wish to go to college and really that is all I need, for if God knows what you want, if he knows what you need, it is in his time that you'll receive it and all you need is to stay in good favor and have patience.
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