Hello, I’m Iris Gomez. I’m a student at Highline College. I came into college not knowing what I wanted to do, and I just chose business. My cousin did business, so I thought I would follow along in her footsteps. I chose to go to Highline because it was closest to home.
I’ve always had financial aid pay my school off for me. Financial aid makes college possible for me. I hear from my friends, it’s very expensive and they have a hard time affording it. I feel like guaranteeing the first two years of college cost free for CTC students would cause more people to go to college, just because so many people worry about the cost or being in debt. Having the opportunity to have the first two years paid for you would motivate people to further their education.
I live with my parents, but I have heard that Highline has food banks set up if anyone ever needs anything. I don’t know about it much myself, or if anyone has actually used that resource. My teacher did go over it once, in the first few days. She said if anyone needed anything we could go and speak to someone.
Expending wraparound services would be a great help to students. Just having to not worry about those things would be very beneficial. Diminishing that worry would help people focus on school. It’s really hard to be at school and have to worry about paying bills and paying for tuition. It would be very beneficial to not have to worry about paying bills as well as homework and exams – just taking one thing off your plate.
One other barrier is transportation. I don’t know how to drive, so I take the bus to school. It’s not that far away, but sometimes I miss the bus and I don’t make it to class on time. I don’t know if that’s really important, but it is a barrier for me. I asked around and I don’t think they provide a bus pass.
Iris Gomez, Burien