My name is Reyna, and I’ve lived in Seattle my whole life. I was born here, grew up here, and now I’m raising my three-year-old daughter here. She’s my everything, the reason I get up, the reason I keep going, the reason I finally came back to school after 13 years away.
For the past decade, my life has mostly been work. People think that skipping college and going straight into the workforce is the “easy” route, but it isn’t. Bills never stop, life doesn’t slow down, and struggling is exhausting. When the chance came for me to return to school — with grants and support I never had before — I grabbed it with both hands.
Walking back into Everett Community College this year was surreal. Being in a classroom after so long, juggling homework, childcare, and my own mental health, it’s a lot. But it’s also something I’m deeply proud of. Community college made sense for me, financially, practically, and emotionally. Here, I can rebuild my foundation without drowning in debt.
My short-term goal is to finish my psychology transfer degree. Long-term, I want to become a music therapist. For me, higher education is about purpose. It’s about giving my daughter a better future and giving myself permission to dream again. Work experience alone doesn’t open every door. But education — the right education, with the right support — opens the ones that matter.
College, though, is not always affordable. When you’re in community college and connected to programs like WorkFirst, BFET, or Elevate, it can be manageable. But that’s only if you know how to find them. I didn’t for a long time. The first two times I tried returning to school, I failed, not academically, but financially. I was working overnight, taking classes during the day, basically not sleeping or eating, drowning in stress. When you’re living on your own, bills always come first. Rent, groceries, gas, they don’t care if you have an exam.
That’s why guaranteeing the first two years of college for community and technical college students would change everything. Other countries already do it. Here, too many people never even start because they simply can’t afford to. A free first two years would give people like me, and thousands of others, the chance to focus on learning instead of survival.
Survival. That’s the biggest barrier. Without your basic needs met, school becomes almost impossible.
Being a parenting student adds another layer to everything. I can’t just think about myself. Every decision affects my daughter. I rely heavily on programs that help with daycare, clothes, housing support, and basic needs. Toddlers grow out of clothes every other week, daycare requires extra outfits and supplies… the costs never end. I grew up in financial instability, I refuse to repeat that cycle for my daughter. If not for these programs, balancing school and parenting wouldn’t be possible.
If we can guarantee free education for the first two years, make basic needs support visible and accessible, provide real work opportunities, including for undocumented students, and protect personal information, then people won’t have to wait 13 years to come back like I did. They’ll be able to start sooner, stay longer, and actually build the futures they dream of, for themselves, for their families, and for their communities.