FAFSA

Friendly Advice From Student Aficionado

By: Delphina Thomas

Tribal Affiliation: Diné

Study: PhD in Justice Studies

Yá’át’ééh, shí éí Tábąąhí nishłí, Tótsohnii báshishchiin, Honágháahnii dashicheii, Kinyaa’áanii dashinalí.

More than 2,400 miles away from home, I remember sitting outside of the Brown University cashier’s office, crying my eyes out after being told that I didn’t have enough aid to cover my student account balance. I didn’t know what that meant and I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t ask my mom to help me with thousands of dollars because I didn’t come from wealth.

I grew up in Indian Wells, Arizona, which is just 30 miles from the reservation line in Holbrook. Since I was 10, I’ve wanted to be a professor which is what I intend on pursuing after receiving my PhD. Yet I never knew how I’d pay for my education.

Leaving the cashier’s office, I sat down and cried. Then a staff worker in the Africana Studies Department, who identified as Wampanoag, stopped and asked if I was okay. Even though we barely knew each other, I told her exactly what happened and she reassured me that everything was going to be okay. And it was.

I share this story because Native college students may not have any teachings about higher education costs. We all have our own stories of figuring it out through trial and error. For me, I came from a low-income, first-generation background where no one talked about financial aid, money and budgeting, and there are a few reasons for that.

First, no one in my family knew anything about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). My parents were separated by the time I applied to college. My dad received his high school diploma from Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Oklahoma, and my great-grandma took my mom out of school in third grade. That was the extent of their education, and I was never upset with them for not knowing about these topics.

Second, despite having older siblings attending college, no one talked to me about the FAFSA, so I had to complete the form by myself with what little information I had from my mom. I knew my mom’s social security number by heart because I’d fill out applications that requested her social security number, then explain to her what the form was for and she’d sign.

Third, we didn’t have money to budget. Everything my mom received monthly was allocated for housing, utilities and food. Every so often she would give me money for a social activity I wanted to do with a friend. It wasn’t until years later that I realized she was giving me her last $5.

As an adult I have learned a lot, not just academically but the ins and outs of financial aid, benefits of scholarships and grants, and how to budget any excess gift aid I may receive. As a graduate student, I was a financial aid counselor at ASU who used the tuition waiver and applied for grants/scholarships. Leaving this job in June 2018 to pursue my PhD left me feeling lost. Then I began to volunteer at events where I used all of my gained knowledge to help students who were like me years ago — sitting outside of financial aid offices with their heads in their hands, overwhelmed and trying to navigate the financial aid process. Though unlike me, I wanted to catch them before they got there.

Currently, I work part-time at South Mountain Community College as a financial aid outreach specialist. I primarily present financial aid information to students, local organizations and the public by hosting FAFSA workshops and help them all complete verification. Finding this job was a miracle and something that I knew I had to do. I help students and parents who may feel lost in the process and may need a friendly face to reassure them that “everything is going to be okay.”