- So when I was in high
school, back in the 90's, even then, college was, at
least from my point of view, very very expensive and now
it's only gotten more expensive. And I remember thinking,
there's no way I'm going to be able to go to a school,
at that time that cost 10 or 15 thousand dollars a
year, now those same schools cost 30 or 40 thousand
dollars a year, at least. That's the stated price for tuition. You know, my mom was a
single mom, she kind of sometimes worked as a manager
at a convenience store, she did a bunch of series of
jobs to kind of make ends meet. We were on, depending on the year, free or reduced lunch
and so I just imagined, my only option is you know,
either go to a local school or get a full ride scholarship if I can. But then my sister opened my mind, she was three years older, she
applied to Brown University, which at that time the stated
tuition was I think already in the high teens, thousands, if not 20 thousand dollars a year. And when she applied she then
applied for financial aid, and I didn't even know this thing called financial aid existed. And so she got some federal
grant money, she got some federal subsidized loans,
Brown gave her some grant, gave her some loans, then
there was some small parent contribution and then she
also had to do work-study. But they made a package for
her so that she was able to go. Now it wasn't easy, she
had to do some work-study, my mom didn't have to
do some contribution, she did have to take on some
debt, but she was able to go. So that completely opened up my mind, so when I applied to college I didn't let that be a constraint on me. I said let me just figure out where I really want to
go to college because I knew this financial aid thing existed. And what a lot of people
don't realize is that some of the most selective colleges, that have at least the
stated tuition is high, actually have some of the
best financial aid programs, they're very very generous
with their financial aid. And so I applied, and I got
into MIT and then I did the financial aid process and it
was incredibly good, I thought. It made it very... I left MIT with about 30
thousand dollars in loans, I had to do some work-study, but overall it made it
affordable, very doable. And for me, that 30
thousand dollars in loans, I couldn't imagine a better
investment in my future. So I would say you have to be
careful, you don't want to get too far in debt, you
definitely want to weigh what you're going to take on
in terms of debt and aid versus what you might be able to
make and career possibilities. But you know I think it was
a very powerful thing for me to see my sister and what opportunities are available that aren't always obvious.