I am a senior at the College of Staten Island, studying English. When I graduate, I hope to become a speech language pathologist. I pay for college with TAP and other financial aid, but that does not cover the full cost of attending college. Since my mom is the only one working in my household, I have also taken on side jobs and I try to get as much overtime as possible, but when other expenses come up, it becomes challenging to keep up with everything. It is difficult to balance work and school at the same time. Even with financial aid, there are still a lot of out-of-pocket costs that I need to manage on my own. I believe that the TAP award amount should be increased to better support students who are trying to stay in school and manage financial challenges. I am part of the ASAP program, and the MetroCard they provide really helps, but it still doesn’t cover everything. Since CSI removed the direct bus to campus, commuting has become even more difficult. It takes me about three hours to get to school and back. Those long rides add extra stress and costs. During the semester, I often have to make tough decisions between buying a textbook or covering my daily expenses. Being in a single-income household makes it hard to keep up with everything, and even though programs like ASAP make a difference, there’s still a big gap between what students actually need and what we can afford. I think more needs to be done to help commuter students. Traveling across boroughs every day can be exhausting and expensive, and not everyone has easy access to resources on campus. Providing more transportation support or commuter assistance would take a lot of stress off students who are trying to balance everything at once. Additionally, class offerings have been a challenge for me at CSI. One of the biggest problems is that classes fill up really quickly, especially during the off-semester or when you’re trying to fit your schedule around work. Sometimes the times that are left don’t match with my availability, so I end up taking classes that are harder to manage just to stay on track. Campus infrastructure at CSI could also be improved, overall the campus is decent, but there are areas that could be better. Some classrooms and buildings feel outdated, and the elevators or computers don’t always work properly. When things like that happen, it slows down learning and makes the environment less motivating. The computers in the labs can be slow or outdated, which makes it hard to complete assignments on time, especially when you’re trying to balance class, work, and a long commute. Sometimes, small things, like technical problems or limited resources, make the learning experience more stressful than it needs to be. Keeping the facilities well-maintained would really help students feel more supported and comfortable on campus.

Through my personal experiences, growing up/ living in D.C., and even my high school it would all lead to me taking the leap and studying history here at SUNY Cortland. Post college I am seeking to work in the field of public history, public speaking, or governmental work. Though I wish I could live comfortably like other countries with free or even cheaper I still do have to pay for college through a combination of loans and paying for scholarships. In addition I have to work at least 20 hours week just to survive without any extra amenities.I am not eligible for TAP because I am a resident of D.C. not New York.Both luckily and unfortunately I am the first person to go to college. With this comes with the burden of setting examples to come and having no support or advice on college life. Paying back the school and other expenses simultaneously is the biggest challenge with college because it puts so much stress and anxiety on me about in and post college. I can’t always do all of the fun things my friends re doing because I don’t have networks of money. All of my time is for business never leisure.

I am majoring in linguistics and literacy. I hope to continue work in human services, whether this be through working in education, speech pathology, or research. My tuition is paid solely through federal and state grants. I support my other college expenses by working 20 hours a week. As an independent student, it was a very difficult process to get TAP. There should be much more support on the state’s end for things such as paperwork, since that was the main issue I ran into. It takes 8-12 weeks to review requests for independent students, which means I did not get my aid amount until the very end of the semester. My biggest challenge is knowing that my tuition might not be accounted for every semester. I have trouble affording transportation costs. This is part of the reason I chose so many online classes. At my school, it is such a hassle to get advised. Before my first semester, I waited on zoom for hours to talk to an advisor. Now, trying to get advised for the fall is another hassle. We don’t have designated advisors in my department, just professors who have other things to do besides advise us. I don’t attend many in person classes. But the many broken links of CUNY have made the sites hard to navigate sometimes.

I’m a political Science major at Hunter graduating this semester. I paid for my higher education through FAFSA. I’d want TAP to be more proactive in notifying students to file, or even of its existence. I feel like there are students are unaware of TAP. One of my biggest issues is transportation costs. I didn’t have enough money to pay for a swipe and the train was coming, so instead of refilling my card I jumped the turnstile. Cops pulled to the side and gave me a ticket instead of a warning, which was so frustrating because it was hard to pay that ticket off. I almost never paid for a textbook or book in college just because some of the prices were outrageously high. I always relied on student networking (group chats, classroom) to share the textbook/book with me. It’s frustrating to see that professors are prevented from sharing the textbook for free for their students. Honestly, the worst experience at Hunter is the support system. It’s so bureaucratic and burdensome, I can’t speak with an adviser without having to send an email or make a virtual appointment. I’ve never seen my advisor or talked to my advisor, until my final semester. These offices are not welcoming to students and reminisce the same vibe as a DMV. There’s also issues with the infrastructure is terrible, I was constantly reminded of it every where I walked in Hunter. It really feeds into the stigma of public schools. The elevators are consistently useless, it’s honestly faster to take the stairs.

I’m a freshman studying international business and am the first in my family to attend college. To fund my education recieve TAP, and the Presidential Scholarship which is for 1 year and I pay 1/3 of my tuition & fees which is divided among my mother, my father, and myself. I was also supposed to receive work study. I was accepted to Purchase College with the understanding I would receive $2000 per semester through work study. Once I got here and applied for a work study job, I was informed that there was no longer enough funding for me to be a part of work study. This refusal has put me behind on paying my portion of education for this year. TAP award size hasn’t been modified/increased regularly and is a lot less significant considering the increases in tuition. The infrastructure isn’t the worst but I had to go without showering for a week because the showers in my bathroom were flooding and no one was coming to solve the problem. I struggled finding a therapist under my insurance for a while before college. When I arrived I started going to a therapist on campus, but I was told that I could only go for one semester because of lack of therapists for long term patients. I went for my fall semester and am now stuck without access to an affordable therapist. On the side of advisement, I had my academic advisor switch 3 times within my freshman year. No constant connection and I think this is one of the reasons I have decided to transfer from this school.