Saturday, December 29, 2018

Fastweb is a setup

I have been awakened twice today, once at 630 am and again just a few moments ago. Both times, there was something pushing me out of bed. The first time, I was literally thinking about how much each college Maya got accepted to wants from me. I have been waking up to that for the last month. The second time, I was pushed to write. Write something about it. As if that would make it all better, or even easier. And I know that it won't. But it may me the answer to someone else who reads this. So here I am. Awake, exhausted, and frankly having no clue as to what comes next.

There are a few of us that can plan for college and create a financial cushion for ourselves and our families. And then there is everybody else. So what I will say is that links like Fastweb and Scholly are loaded with scholarship contests as opposed to simply laid out applications. The link will often take you to another scholarship or corporate link that wants to sell you something as opposed to actually getting you money. Ads begin to overflow your timeline with stories of we give millions of dollars each year. Or even worse, colleges send your child info about additional monies but the deadline is in two days. Yep, two days! This is different, very different than it was even five years ago. It is an arduous process with one goal in mind. Utter and complete failure.

So I wake up. I wake Maya up. And we get started. She writes and edits and writes some more. She eats and drinks and then goes back to writing and answering more questions. She emails teachers and I email her counselor so we can get some additional information. Each time, I think, how many parents actually know anything about this? Even worse, what do our children know about it? Because I am telling you, the search engine for scholarships is a treacherous path. Fastweb gets money from all colleges, and other search links get other kickbacks from corporate entities. All geared towards you clicking and not getting very much information. Remember when you went to the counselor's office and there were actual scholarships to apply for? I only know of one school making that happen and thank goodness I am friends with their counselor or else Maya would still have limited access.

But there is hope. And the hope is with us. Once you receive any actual Intel, please share it with other students and parents. And I must say, most of the relevant data has come from word of mouth as opposed to Google and definitely not Fastweb. Contact the national offices of all Black sororities and fraternities or else you may never find anything online because they also have some funds to give. Literally go to the United Negro College Fund and the NAACP page, and find some actual listings, which also include funds for LGTBQ teens and more.

This saddens me because I raised my daughter to be self-sufficient and to seek information. But, I am truly happy that she does not have to do this alone. So to everyone who said, I let my child find it on their own, well I am here to tell you that time has left and adults are needed. Because this process will make you send a "No Thank you" to all the acceptances and simply give up. And many of  our communities do not provide access to this assistance, which is unfortunate. So if you are a parent of child who is interested in some information, do not hesitate to ask because I will definitely offer a helping hand or at least point you in the right direction.