dFor a person with a hearing loss going to college for the first time will come to the realization (mostly the parents' realization) that cost of college just keeps getting more expensive with each passing year. The best thing to prepare well ahead of time by researching all of the available and possible scholarships and grants that can help keep expenses down. There are some 2.7 million local, state and national college scholarships and grants worth over 19 billion dollars for free! Imagine that. There are several possible scholarships or grants a deaf or hard of hearing person can apply for.
Each of these organization or institution has the right to define the eligibility criteria in order to qualify for a scholarship or grant such as Alexander Graham Bell's which provides about 18 or so scholarships each year to qualified applicants. But what happens when deaf people find out about AGB and do not qualify?
"Life is soooooooo unfair!" (*rants* *rants* *throws self on floor and proceed to Defcon 4 temper tantrum*)
That's pretty much in a nutshell. Unbelievably so.
People need to learn to move on and keep digging when it comes to searching for free money. There are scholarships and grants available that have nothing to do with hearing loss or disability. In fact, there are tons of them! If you are a female and want to study law, there are scholarships/grants out there for that. African American? Yep. Good at sports? Sure thang! Even kids of deceased parents can tap into scholarships specifically for them. Are you a single Mom and going to college? Yep, there's a grant for that, too. Amazing. Just about almost anything you can think of there's a grant for it. And you can tally up those grants worth $300, $150, $500, $800, $100 and so on. It can add up quickly when you "nickle and dime" your grants together over time.
How about pound the pavement for a change instead of trying to find something easier that focuses directly on a person's own hearing loss? Look around. Invest your time and energy and dig up these valuable scholarship and grant resources that are worth over $19 billion dollars. How can you get that piece of the pie to help with your college expenses? Simple. You dig around for it like you would panning for gold along a creek. Be sure to give yourself at least a year's time to dig up these gold nuggets before attending college and make a note when to apply for them when the time is right. And do not stop looking. Just because you have a good list of possible grants or scholarships doesn't mean you stop looking because not you may not get that award after you apply. It's best to keep looking and add more to your list of grants and scholarships.
Bitchin' about AGBell's scholarship award program regarding its eligibility criteria is simply a big waste of time. AGBell has every right to define those criteria for eligibility purposes just like any other scholarships or grants you apply for.
Time to stop crying like a baby over that. Let's be an adult for a change because going to college is an investment of your time and resource. Spend it wisely. Know where to look and get that gold nugget you were looking for.
Good luck for 2012 and beyond. You'll need it.
4 comments:
If your hearing loss is severe and you want to major in something that leads to a job, you can generally get help, including coverage of tuition and books from your state office of Vocational Rehabilitation.
Of course, there's about 3 months of paperwork before you qualify, and state spending cuts mean you are competing with every other disabled person for a limited supply of money (that's not supposed to matter, but it does), but VR has been a lifesaver to a lot of Deaf people seeking educational financing.
That can be a lifesaver, true. However, at Gallaudet I personally witness a freshman student wasted two semesters on a fully paid tuition by his VR. The first semester he earned a 0.5 GPA. They decided to give him a second chance, he got a 0.0 GPA. All I saw was him wasting his time and partying. He was also the one I spotted passed out on the second floor in the lounge area of Benson Hall lying in his own pool of vomit in 1988. He bragged about how he ripped of the VR.
No only VR, grants, or scholarships but they can try working at a job, too, to help defray costs.
Well, I promised myself I wouldn't comment on your blogs any longer because of excessive negativity, but this time...
What you have said totally missed the point of the comment on AGBell scholarships being for oral students only. It was to point out the incogruency of selecting only oral students. Basically, all Deaf people have had oral training, so it actually penalized those who also learned ASL.
Also, commenting on "ripping off VR" and so on did a major disservice to the majority of students who went to college on VR and benefited from it. They also worked and took out student loans, if you didn't know that. Why point out the one that you saw and overlook the honest majority?
Most of your blogs seem to take a similar tack particularly about Gallaudet and the signing Deaf community. Tsk. Despite your waving the few laudatory blogs about selected Deaf people, you do come off as condemnatory about Deaf people as a group.
Dianrez, I did NOT miss any point. I made it very clear that an organization has every right to define their criteria on grant giving for eligibility purposes just like any other scholarships or grants out there.
Secondly, this AGBell scholarship does NOT penalize those who know ASL. AGBell made it clear in their criteria that "Spoken communication must be the applicant's primary mode of communication." There is no mentioning on whether if one already knows sign language, SEE, ASL or whatever they'd become ineligible. Just that your primary mode of communication is spoken communication. Just like me, my primary mode of communication is spoken language even though I know sign language.
Please stop twisting the fact by insinuating something that's not there.
Sure, they can always take out a student loan. However, my blog is about the myriads of scholarships and grants that are out there. Instead of focusing so intently on one organization because you don't agree with their criteria it'd be better to try and focus on other grants and scholarships that are out there. All you have to do is to apply a bit of elbow grease and do some researching. A little time in researching can help pay off dividends instead of bitching about something you have no control over, especially a criteria thing.
Most of my blogs? Not really. I've done 1843 blogs going back to 2004, if you look at all of them you will find that most of my blogs were not about Gallaudet or the signing Deaf community.
I'm not condemnatory about Deaf people as a group. Talk about a selective mindset here and making sweeping yet unfounded remark. You say that because you disagree with what I say or opine in my blogs thinking what I write is aimed at Deaf people as a whole. Not so. I don't do that. What I do is I provide my own opinions on a lot of issues. Sure, I make some remarks not popular to some Deaf people who disagree. Other Deaf people also agree with on what I had to say. And certainly they do not take personal offense.
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