The Need
Federal aid through FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) helps many to afford a college education, but it neglects just as many who could use the help. In 2008, graduating college seniors owed tens of thousands and sometime hundreds of thousands of dollars despite the help of FAFSA. Why is this?
Put simply, the scholarships are not staying afloat to the record tuition costs. A mere one in ten receives outside scholarships for an average award of $2,500. How can this small award pay for skyrocketing tuition, which is now at an average of $26,000 each year for a private four year institution, and rising 5% annually? It can’t. Every student in America needs financial support.
Furthermore, the aspiring disabled student, on average, lacks far behind the able-bodied counterpart.
The disabled student comes into the public education system and is quickly pushed aside. According to a 2009 report analyzing results from the NEAP standardized test, given to the nation’s fourth and eighth graders, 15% of the nation’s fourth graders and 13% of the disabled eighth graders were “determined unable to take the test.” They were forgotten.
This is merely compounded when the student graduates from high school, as the disabled population as a whole, is ill-prepared for the next step. Less attend any form of post-secondary education, and are less educated when they enter the work force.
Education is a requirement for many professions, and without a college degree, the disabled person is much less desirable when applying for work. Whether they has the skills or not, without proper education, the man or woman simply cannot get the advantage over the other applicants. Without this advantage, the highest paid jobs go to the college educated, typically able-bodied, applicants. Thus the disabled are forced to work at the less desirable jobs without the high income. These less opportunities for the disabled yield a “less successful life”, as defined in traditional terms of income and monetary success. Poverty rates are much higher among the disabled population, and there is a sense of entrapment among these adults. They feel as though they cannot do better than their current low-paying job because they don’t have an education. Furthermore this formal education is an “impossibility” in their eyes without a substantial income. So, they reason, why try?
There are of course achieving disabled adults who have done amazing and wonderful things, but this story is the story of far too many disabled youth and adults alike, who have accepted their fate as “minuvalidos”—the Spanish term for the disabled, literality meaning “less worthy”. They view themselves as “less than” others and “unable” to achieve. It is this that must change if the disabled community as a whole is going to escape the compounding nature of disabilities. The feeling of entrapment in which it is so easy to fall must be erased from the mind of the disabled.
By providing a hope and means through both educational scholarships and goal-oriented Achievement Grants, it is the hope of the Think Alive Foundation that those Americans who are disabled can see a future, setting goals and aiming to achieve.
Average Debt After College Despite Federal Aid, by profession
| Submitted FAFSA | Graduate Education Debt | All Education Debt (Grad & Undergrad) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graduate & Professional Degree Programs | Percent Borrowing | Comulative Debt | Percent Borrowing | Cumulative Debt |
| Total | 94.3% | $46,865 | 96.9% | $62.285 |
| Master's Degree | 94.5% | $34.741 | 97.7% | $51,223 |
| Doctoral Degree | 82.8% | $73.885 | 85.0% | $85,366 |
| Professional Degree | 99.4% | $92.575 | 99.9% | $105,705 |
| Master of Business | 98.2% | $34.691 | 98.9% | $53,779 |
| Master of Social Work (MSW) | 91.9% | $36,924 | 91.9% | $54,020 |
| Master of Science (MS) | 95.2% | $34,824 | 98.3% | $52,102 |
| Master of Arts (MA) | 94.0% | $34,357 | 97.4% | $50,102 |
| Master of Education or Teaching | 92.6% | $31,540 | 96.8% | $49,286 |
| phD | 67.5% | $58,353 | 72.0% | $69,754 |
| EdD | 94.5% | $51,695 | 94.5% | $61,121 |
| Law (LLB or JD) | 99.9% | $82,601 | 99.9% | $95,914 |
| Medicine of Osterpatdic Medicine | 100.00% | $126,152 | 100.0% | $136,474 |
| Pharmacy (PharmD) | 100.00% | $66,319 | 100.0% | $88,648 |
Put simply, the scholarships are not staying afloat to the record tuition costs. A mere one in ten receives outside scholarships for an average award of $2,500. How can this small award pay for skyrocketing tuition, which is now at an average of $26,000 each year for a private four year institution, and rising 5% annually? It can’t. Every student in America needs financial support.
Furthermore, the aspiring disabled student, on average, lacks far behind the able-bodied counterpart.
The disabled student comes into the public education system and is quickly pushed aside. According to a 2009 report analyzing results from the NEAP standardized test, given to the nation’s fourth and eighth graders, 15% of the nation’s fourth graders and 13% of the disabled eighth graders were “determined unable to take the test.” They were forgotten.
This is merely compounded when the student graduates from high school, as the disabled population as a whole, is ill-prepared for the next step. Less attend any form of post-secondary education, and are less educated when they enter the work force.
There are of course achieving disabled adults who have done amazing and wonderful things, but this story is the story of far too many disabled youth and adults alike, who have accepted their fate as “minuvalidos”—the Spanish term for the disabled, literality meaning “less worthy”. They view themselves as “less than” others and “unable” to achieve. It is this that must change if the disabled community as a whole is going to escape the compounding nature of disabilities. The feeling of entrapment in which it is so easy to fall must be erased from the mind of the disabled.
By providing a hope and means through both educational scholarships and goal-oriented Achievement Grants, it is the hope of the Think Alive Foundation that those Americans who are disabled can see a future, setting goals and aiming to achieve.
| A Scholarship Comparison: The Lack of Money for Students | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Top 5 Disability Scholarships From Disaboom.com—2010 | Top 5 Listed Non-Disability Scholarships from Scholarships.com—2010 | ||
| Scholarship A | $ 1000-$1500 | Scholarship 1 | $1000 |
| Scholarship B | $500-2000 | Scholarship 2 | $10000 |
| Scholarship C | $2000 | Scholarship 3 | $1000 |
| Scholarship D | $500 | Scholarship 4 | $5555 |
| Scholarship E | $2500 | Scholarship 5 | $6000 |
