The SIC has been frustrating to me, to say the least. The summer contribution has been stressing me out in recent days — it requires me to work in a paid position, in addition to the current remote work I’m doing, to earn the money in full, which would mean working in retail or food service for part of my summer. Meanwhile, I live with my grandma and I’ve barely left my house in an effort to keep her as safe as possible, and yet I’m expected to contribute that money to my college education. The stipend I was supposed to receive for my summer research was cut in half because of COVID-19, and now I am stuck using the entirety of my stipend toward the SIC while my family has to deal with the financial consequences of a global pandemic and recession. If I take another job, I will have to use that money toward completing my SIC. I have appealed to the financial aid office to ask for my summer income expectation to be reduced/waived, and for additional financial aid, and they have yet to get back to me even though I submitted my appeal and a follow-up email weeks ago.
The stress of the SIC has been weighing on me as my summer passes me by. In the midst of a global pandemic, I am worried about finding a job and working in order to complete this expectation. It is preposterous that my family and myself must shoulder the burden of the SIC in order for me to attend a school with an endowment as large as Yale’s.
Jacquelyn Folmar, she/her, 2022, Berkeley
