After a lot of hard work, the college acceptance letters finally arrived in the mail for Lompoc High School seniors Janet Barron and Deion Campbell, but they found out that college isn’t just about studying.
There is the large price tag.
Barron will be studying psychology after being accepted into CSU Channel Islands with a 3.6 GPA.
After taking AP calculus and AP English classes, Campbell will be studying music production and the business side of music at CSU Chico.
Both of the parents will have to sacrifice financially so their children graduate with their bachelor’s degrees.
McIntosh, who is going through a divorce, said that she’s earning about $56,000 a year as a secretary and treasurer for the sewer district in Santa Ynez and thought was earned enough to afford college payments. She said she’s surprised by the situation she finds herself in.
She said that if her son had not received a $4,500 scholarship loan that he would not be attending CSU Chico next fall.
“I can’t afford to front the whole bill,” said McIntosh, who has two younger children. “That’s why I keep on pushing him to apply for scholarships. Even $100 scholarships. That’s a book.”
The same fact of life is acknowledged by Luz Barron, who earns about $30,000 cleaning houses. There’s no room to cut in her budget. She doesn’t eat out or go to movies, so she’ll pick up a second job, even after doctors discovered a cyst on her brain.
“For me I have low income, it’s going to be really hard but I think I can help her with that,” Barron said. “I am not comfortable. I feel there is always a way you can get more money. A loan, a second job, whatever you need to do to get by.”
The cost of attending a CSU college has doubled in the last five years. According to the CSU website, annual tuition has increased from $3,199 annually in 2006 -2007 to $6,519 in 2011/2012.
The cost of an UC education is double the cost of CSU education, at $13,200.
McIntosh estimated that her son’s education will cost $24,000 a year with the living expenses.
Barron said it will cost $23,711.
The Public Policy Institute of California, a non-partisan think tank, recently released a report describing a situation where high school graduates are more prepared than ever for college, but less likely to enroll in any four-year college.
The report states that California’s General Fund allocation for education has decreased during the recession. Enrollment has declined from about 67 percent to 55 percent for those most highly prepared high school graduates, according to the report.
Deion heard persistently from his mother about applying for scholarships. He submitted 10 to 12 scholarship — he was selected for one.
“It was pretty much an everyday thing from late February to right before May,” said Campbell about his mother telling him to apply for scholarships.
Barron is divorced, but she said her ex-husband will probably help; still a second job is likely.
“As long as they give me time to pay, I’ll pay whatever I need to pay,” Barron said. “It is a lot of money we need to pay them. It’s going to be stressful because we don’t have the money upfront.”
Financial aid never came through, despite Janet’s stellar grades and her best attempt. Each day after school, Janet said, she would check out the scholarship drawer at Lompoc High School to see if there were any scholarships she was eligible for.
She said that she sent off 25 to 30 scholarships, but she was only chosen for one.
She received a $5,000 Pell grant, a CalGrant worth $1,000, and a $2,000 Santa Barbara Foundation scholarship.
“They would put the applications in there and the school would make an announcement,” Janet said. “We would go in whenever they made an announcement and I filled out all the one’s I am eligible for.”
The four-year university experience was something she had her eyes on for a long time, so she isn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
“Even elementary and middle school, I worked really hard and I did community service and helped the school out,” Janet said. “I feel like I should get more help than what I am getting.”
When she called her future university, they told her that there was little more they could do.
“They told me I got the maximum and they said they couldn’t help me anymore,” Janet said.
Janet said that the amount of debt a household might have should also be considered when providing scholarships — it’s not just about income.
Her parents will support her, but whether that is enough remains to be seen.