jam+letter

October 3,2010 Contact: Jordan Melander Freshman Student Attending Ball State University Education dollars equal an investment well spent in our future

Dear Senator Richard Lugar, Thank you for this valuable time on a timely subject. Allow me to be brief and direct. These days in Indiana are very financially lean. As you well know the unemployment rate is in double digits. The county in which I reside is currently at about a 13% unemployment rate. My college educated father himself is a displaced worker, despite his degree from Indiana University and over thirty years of work experience. To say the least, this has been a humbling experience for him, for he has been working for the food Bank of Northern Indiana at half the salary of which our family has been accustomed, which brings me to my point. My twin brother and I are college freshman who received **__no __** financial aid from the state. Our mother is adjunct faculty for Indiana University South Bend in addition to working four days per week in a dental office. She recently learned from a member of the IUSB budget commmitee that formerly 40% tuition and 60% state dollars paid for my parents education dollars. Now those percentages have reversed completely. As registered voters, my family would hope you would seek to get the biggest return on your investment through education dollars and sense! Both students as well as adults are questioning where our Indiana taxes go and to what they support. In these times of economic turmoil, wouldn’t it make sense to put our taxes to better use? Some of which seem not as important and that the collected money could be put to much better use. Education is one of the key elements keeping a nation functioning and working to its fullest potential. I believe that time spent investigating cuts, which could be made from other funds where taxes are currently going and throwing the money into the financial aid pot would be an ingenius investment. The fact of the matter is some kids and families just can not afford to pay thousands of dollars to receive a formal education. All Americans deserve the right to earning a degree or atleast a collegiate education without wiping them completely clean and running the well dry. A majority of State colleges these days average atleast ten thousand dollars per year, which is about a quarter of what some families take in during an entire year! My tuition fee this year for attending Ball State University will total up to being $15,748 as an Indiana resident. Wow, Ball State is even considered an afforable college to attend here in Indiana and that normal seems mind boggling to me! I know that schooling will most likely not be lowering tuition fees, so why can’t Indiana make a change and raise more money for eager students to receive from Financial Aid. It is argued that indeed anyone can be a student because most people can receive loans if they apply for them. This is nonsense! Getting a loan I believe is something that the Government should help pay perhaps after the student shows efforts and results of what they put into their school time. Graduating from College should be an immensely upward swing in one’s life getting ready to live in the real world. Instead, almost all college students graduate yes with a sigh of relief, but then with a groan when recalling the amount of money still to be paid off. Graduates need to be able to focus on their new jobs and helping out the job force for Americans, not having to deal with the stress attacks from being in debt. Loans have to be paid back by a certain amount of months which is sometimes hard to meet this criteria. More grants need to be awarded and less loans to be dealt with! Students need to be more worried about finding jobs and putting their well earned degrees to work. There is a cry to help relieve stress and lift this burden from hardworking students! It is an understatement to say that tax payers may not want to add more taxes to their bills. These tax payers could possibly sit there and object against the idea stating that other families as well as mine should have been more wis with our pocket books putting away more money for our future. The fact of the matter is, my family indeed did try to do this. The way our economy took an extreme downfall in this past decade some families were very unfortunate with huge losses. Four people living on a one person income for two years really broke the bank. We put great efforts into cutting back spending to a minimun and attempting to save every last morsel. While attending my freshman orientation here at Ball State University, my mother along with a vast number of other student’s parents held meetings with Financial Aid advisors. Sweaty palms and fidgeting legs of nervous parents filed in one by one hoping and praying for a blessing. My mother witnessed almost every single parent, as did she, moping out of the office about to burst in tears. Nearly all the other average salary based families we spoke with went home without a measely dime. It again just flusters those looking for the educations needed and back to wondering why can’t more tax dollars support our future! It seems as though most families have to be destitute or completely dirt poor to receive any sort of grant. The ball needs to get rolling and action needs to be taken. I believe starting a task force in researching ways to get more money for financial aid would be more than a great investment. Perhaps putting a strong amount of effort into readjusting the income requirements for receiving a grant from the Government would be an extreme help to our state. Thankyou again for taking the time to read over my beliefs in helping provide for students in need. More tax dollars for scholars would be an investment in the future with great returns! -Jordan Melander