What I did not Know

First I want to thank my colleague for enlightening me.  I always knew there was poverty in Texas, but I never understood the magnitude of the problem.  That was until I read Not in Texas.  We’re Perfect!  Through my colleague I learned a lot about the poverty issue in Texas.  Obviously the most eye opening thing was the amount of children living in poverty.

My colleague talked about this topic in hopes of making it issue more public.  I completely agree that Texas needs to make this issue on of the main topics up for discussion.  What is more important than the children of Texas?  We need our government to lead the charge in this issue.  Organizations like the Capital Area Food Bank and other programs can only help so many people.  We need more government to start funding programs and organizations in order to combat this problem.  I don’t know if we can end poverty, but we need to do something.  I share my colleague’s hope that our government will take this issue on, but it needs to be sooner rather than later.

College is Expensive

Money is on everyone’s mind.  We are amid a recession that is forcing the Texas government to cut spending in almost every area of the budget.  Some of the people who are really struggling are student trying to pay for their college tuition.  Higher education has always cost a pretty penny, but colleges have always given out scholarships to help out their students.  Now however, with less state funding going toward these colleges the tuition is rising and the scholarships are becoming scarce.  UT Arlington’s President however, has promised that UT Arlington won’t increase tuition, but he is one of the few.  It is my hope that more will follow his example.

Next year I hope to attend The University of Texas at Austin, and I think I can get in.  The issue is finding the money to go there.  My parents are not going to be able to pay for any of my tuition.  I will probably have to live at home because I can see no way to afford moving out.   I’ll have to buy my books, and then if the tuition goes up I am going to be in some serious trouble.

                Attending college can be a very expensive ordeal.  I already think college is too expensive.  I know that by the time I am done with school I am going to be in a huge amount of debt.  Even though I do not plan on attending UT Arlington it is reassuring to know that some colleges are not raising tuition.  It gives me hope that maybe more colleges will follow their example.  I guess all I can do now is wait for this recession to end so the state can start increasing its funding again.