Hi, my name is Abigail Bang. I decided to go to SUNY Cortland because I was recruited for gymnastics. Also, it has a very good sports management program and they’re one of the tops in the nation. I am currently studying sport management with a concentration of facility and event management. My plans for the future are to be a personal trainer and a gymnastics coach on the side for higher level athletes. My parents are paying for the first year of school and I am paying for the rest through student loans. I have to pay for gas, food, and my rent comes out of my savings. I do have to work to cover expenses, and what I do is Instacart, personal training, and I work at a club gymnastics center in Syracuse. I work roughly 15 hours a week and three jobs total. College during a global pandemic was very mentally challenging because all of my classes were online while I was also working a full time job.  Getting a college degree to me means that I am much more likely to get a job in the sports industry because people look for college degrees. I am kind of worried about paying back student loans. I do not receive financial aid. Based off of Cortland, I’ve had a very good experience with my professors because they care about us, other professors have challenged me a lot because they don’t care as much, especially after covid was over. 

I’m in my last year at BMCC, planning on getting my Associates Degree in the spring. My major is studio art and painting. I plan on transferring to a four year CUNY to get my BA in architecture. Right now, I am paying for school with the PELL grant and it is the last year I’m able to. I tried doing the TAP application this and last year, but even though I’ve been living in NY since 2020, for some reason they say that they cannot figure out if I qualify for TAP because of residency concerns. I’m a US citizen but I have lived most of my life in a different country. When I first came to NY I lived in the shelter system and that’s not enough to determine residency. I have an appointment with the HESC to sort this out, which I have been trying to have since last year. I am trying to sort this out now, but it has been a difficult and long process to figure out. I’ve had two appointments with HESC so far and nothing has changed yet.  The PELL grant covers all of my tuition, but still it’s not enough because I have other costs such as rent, groceries, school supplies, and transportation. Last semester, I enrolled in the work study program so I could get some extra money but this semester I did not see that option in my financial aid. What I am going to try to do this semester is find a part time job to cover costs? I am applying for TAP so that I can have all of these costs covered so that I can focus on school. Because I have my tuition covered with the PELL grant, mostly food costs are the problem NY is expensive. My SNAP benefits do not cover this.

I am a student at the College of Staten Island. Where I live, the bus takes really long. Sometimes the bus doesn’t even stop. It’s a very common experience. I have classes on Tuesdays and the bus gets so full that they don’t even stop. I take two buses, so that bus made me late for class. I take the bus everyday to get around. Lower fares would make a huge difference, especially because they raise the price. It all adds up every day, week, and month.

I am a senior studying chemistry at Hunter College. I chose to attend a CUNY because it was much more affordable than a SUNY or private college. I live with my parents as dorming would be too expensive. I am lucky to receive the Pell Grant and TAP, both of which help cover my tuition fees. I also receive a scholarship per semester that helps fund my transportation, school materials, and food. While I rely on financial aid, I have come close to losing it during several semesters. This semester specifically, I was stressed about financial aid because I lost TAP. I couldn’t receive it because I was not taking enough eligible credits (the classes I needed to take were locked to the spring semester). I hope to see TAP’s eligibility expand in the future so that it accepts all the classes that students take. Attending college and getting a degree should not be blocked by tuition fees. Students need to be able to focus more on studying instead of stressing about working part-time/full-time to attend their classes.

I attend SUNY Cortland as a full-time student. I’ve been here for two years and  attended SUNY Broome my freshman and sophomore year. When applying for college I didn’t know where I wanted to go, but I knew that I didn’t want to be that far from home. That’s why I decided on  Broome because it’s about 30 minutes from home. I was able to live off campus and not commute so I was able to get a real college experience. After two years there I decided to go to Cortland because it was far from my home where I am able to be independent, but still close enough to go home if I need to. I am able to go to Cortland without having to have student loans because my parents can pay for it in full. That is a reason why I chose Cortland because I wouldn’t have student debt. Cortland comes with a lot of expenses though whether it’s parking, the price of textbooks (which I don’t always need), or materials teachers make us get outside of the classroom. My major is important to me so I will do whatever it takes to obtain my degree, but the price for many things have gotten out of control and I believe all SUNYs need to look at their finances and think about their students. 

I am a senior at Hunter College and a Psychology major. I am a mother of three going back to school now my children are grown up and would like to help young people since when I was young I didn’t have that support. I was at BMCC my first two years and I got my associate’s degree. It was really nice because I didn’t have to worry about the burden of paying for my tuition books and transportation since I had ASAP with an unlimited metrocard and I had an excellent adviser. Unfortunately when I transferred to Hunter I didn’t have the same experience with the advisement. They made me take a class that I already took in BMCC and I felt that the adviser didn’t take me seriously. I had to take that class online with 300 other students and I didn’t learn anything since the professor couldn’t take the time to explain. I think one of the changes that CUNY could benefit from is extending ASAP since it is a great program to hire more advisers that care about students instead of making it more difficult. Fixing the heating system since sometimes the professor had to let us leave because it was too hot and there wasn’t anybody to put the heating down. I think going to university shouldn’t be a struggle and administration should help us to navigate the system.

I am a junior at SUNY Purchase studying Literature. I hope to go to law school afterwards. My family feels pretty unstable financially, and college is both a hope and a hurdle. I moved back to New York from Texas in 2021 and I am having trouble with my residency and it is affecting my financial aid; I feel the system is too difficult to navigate by myself. Although my parents support me by helping me commute to my university and paying for my education after aid, it is becoming difficult. I have a part-time job on campus but I am looking for another job on campus. SUNY Purchase is a fantastic university and while it was one of my top schools, one of the major reasons it ranked so high was because I could commute there. With the financial aid packages, on-campus housing was simply not an option for me. I wish there were more virtual options for classes since I have to commute from pretty far and more options for classes, since few classes for my degree are actually offered in a semester. A lot of the offered classes also overlap in their timing, so I can only pick one among many classes I would have liked to take and would help fulfill my degree requirements. I have come to love many things about college here. 

I began at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in the early 2000s, and applied for FAFSA and Pell. Unfortunately at the time, I did not know what career path I wanted to choose and advisement was not really very helpful with mapping a future goal. It took me almost four years to complete my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts. Unknown to me at the time, the Pell grant offers “no more than 12 terms or the equivalent.” After graduating from BMCC, I began my first legal job at a personal injuries firm. I took a very long time before attending college again, but when I finally did I applied to City Tech with the intention to learn more about the field I was working in. I have been at City Tech since spring 2021 and was recently informed that I am no longer eligible for any Federal financial aid due to my maximum limit being reached. This semester alone has been especially hard due to my brother’s sudden passing and the expenses tied to it, along with being a single mom to a 13 year old boy and having a full time job to pay for living expenses. Paying tuition seems like an unreasonable situation for me. As a current student on the Dean’s List with only one more semester before graduation, it’s disappointing to know that I may not be able to “afford” to finish my degree.

I am in my third year at BMCC. I am graduating this semester and I am transferring to Brooklyn College to pursue a BA in Political Science. As of right now, I have financial aid to pay for the costs of college. I was nervous about this semester because I am a part time student and I didn’t know how I would pay for college without TAP. When TAP eligibility was expanded to part time students it really helped me. When I transfer to Brooklyn College, I will have to pay more for the cost of school because my financial aid won’t cover it all. I am currently working and when I transfer I will be a full time student and I am expecting a heavier workload. I will have to balance being a full time student while working 30 hours a week. Even now, as a part time student I feel like I have to pick between focusing on work to pay my expenses and focusing on school. If we had a New Deal 4 CUNY, I would be able to use the money that I am making at work for actual living expenses, not college. I wouldn’t have to work as many hours and I could focus on school. It is especially difficult now with inflation and the pandemic, because students are struggling with food, rent and education. This plays into mental health and stress. There are not many resources on campus to help with students’ mental health. My current advisors and counselors seem like they have too many students to care about me when I am in a meeting with them. 

I’m a junior and intern for NYPIRG at SUNY Purchase College. I am a communications major and Economics minor. When I graduate I hope to pursue the sports advertising business. What inspired me to choose my major and minor was my love for baseball and wanting to work for a professional Sports team in the future. I currently use loans to pay for College. I’ve used TAP twice and have had a positive experience with it. I have 4 siblings and I am currently the 3rd one who has attended college. As of financial aid, it does cover me fully with loans. I usually work full time in the summer to catch up with the loans. I’m not worried about paying my loans, Just worried about what career I will have.