DivinePaladin said:
It sounds like you lucked out honestly, as messed up as that sounds. Poor isn't just a static thing, and not very many poor people are "lucky" enough to have all the government benefits that you did growing up. I grew up poor but my mentally impaired mother and caring stepfather had to pay out the ass for rent, we went a couple different year long periods without Internet or cable, electricity was high, et alia. When my stepdad tore his rotator cuff(s) he lost his job within six months despite being there for 15 years and after months of struggling with it we finally got on food stamps. Not very many at all - something like $150 or so between two people (my mom briefly moved away). And my entire child support and a week of pay went to help rent. He maxed out everything he had in this period and my brother by chance had to come live with us because he's also poor and lost his apartment because he couldn't afford paying $400 a month for what was no more than a 30 square foot apartment, and that helped pay the bills. My mom was always lucky enough to have full insurance because she absolutely needed it (asthma, copd, etc.) and I was on my dad's insurance plan but I haven't had dental for a good decade. My stepdad is now dead, I didn't have the credit or a cosigner to help get the college loans I needed, and I'm living with a friend while I transfer to a community college where (thankfully) I'll likely be paying nothing. Most of this was last year, and I live in PA as well. |
Every person that i knew who fit the requirements got the same/similar benefits, so I don't see how my family was special in that regard. Now that isn't to say that people who didn't receive the benefits didn't struggle, just that they didn't fit the arbitrary, but strict, requirements. I had many lower-middle class friends whose parents pinched much more and struggled a lot more than my "impoverished" friends and my family. It is a shame, and it is one of the reasons why I support a negative income tax rather than the welfare system we have now that only rewards people who work just enough, but not too much.
Did you not qualify for federal loans? The requirements for those are much more lenient than the requirements for welfare. There is no cosigner required either, and half of them are subsidized until graduation. Especially since you have certain circumstances involved, if you mention that to your school of interest and on the FAFSA they will work with you independent of the number that you got for your EFC (Expected Family Contribution.)
