Alright PD, seriously, what do you think of...

[Suu]

College kids on food stamps/SNAP?

I just applied to help me get through til next month when my financial aid comes back.

If you google the topic, a slew of articles come up that have been raped by conservatives and mention hipsters eating gourmet food from Whole Foods (which I won't do, damnit.)

I don't have the option of a meal plan really as long as I'm full-time in Providence. Once I start commuting to Kingston I'll get a commuter meal plan as they're actually quite affordable, but it's not practical for me to drive an hour for dinner every day, and my campus doesn't have a true dining hall, just a cash-only cafe and some vending machines.

I also have dietary needs, and can't really live on ramen and grilled cheese.

I brought the issue up at my fencing practice last week and got totally cut down by people who I thought were my friends for even thinking of enrolling in the program. That hurt. Bad.

I feel almost embarrassed for even thinking of it, but I did it anyway, on the suggestion of my 40 something coworker who also needs temporary assistance while taking classes (unfortunately her financial aid package isn't as great as mine.)

Comments?

[Don Coyote]

Um...you need food and the government might pay for it...do it? I mean you are going to college and might potentially do something that will better parts of society, but can't get a job that pays more so apply and use them food stamps to get food.

[Cain]

I'm kinda surprised the US lets students sign onto those kind of welfare programs, asI know the UK does not, except in a few exceptional scenarios (more likely, you will be told to apply for hardship funds from your University, which are always oversubscribed and underfunded).

I don't see anything wrong with it, except in the larger sense that people who are going to University shouldn't have to be using such programs in the first place, that it is something which suggests a major fuckup has happened in how economic priorities and incentives are calculated.

[Phox]

Fuck them. You need to eat, so do what you can to do so. If I needed SNAP, I'd feel no same at all for applying. And who the hell cares WHAT you get with it? If you got it, you got it. I don't know about RI, but here it only applies to certain things anyway.

ETA: clarification.

[Suu]

I'm kinda surprised the US lets students sign onto those kind of welfare programs, asI know the UK does not, except in a few exceptional scenarios (more likely, you will be told to apply for hardship funds from your University, which are always oversubscribed and underfunded).

I don't see anything wrong with it, except in the larger sense that people who are going to University shouldn't have to be using such programs in the first place, that it is something which suggests a major fuckup has happened in how economic priorities and incentives are calculated.

If I was a full-time student at the main campus and not the Providence campus, I'd be eligible for meal plans, health services, etc. But since I'm not,. I get a "cheaper" cost of attendance, but I also get the short end of the stick of what my school could offer me.

I pay over 10k a year in tuition only at a state school not including all the fun fees. If I remember correctly, I think you once told me I could go to St. Andrew's for about the same, and get an Ivy League caliber education at a fraction of the cost. Our higher ed system is so backwards it's disgusting.

And trust me, I'm making this as temporary as possible. $100 will feed me decently for a month.

[LMNO]

I have no problem with it.  If it's what you need to do, then you shouldn't let some heartless douche make you feel bad about it.

And as far as the Whole Foods thing goes, they do tend to have the foods with higher nutritional values and more specific dietary needs than the processed crap you can find at Market Basket.  I mean, can you imagine someone with celiac's disease trying to find something they can use use food stamps for at a Stop&Shop?

Bottom line: If you need it, that's what it's there for.

[Disco Pickle]

My personal position is to always exhaust every possible option before taking government assistance (family, friends) but that's just how I role.

However, you have to eat, and the assistance is there to help you whether you take it or not.  If you need it, use it.  That's why it's there.

Also, unless those "friends" were offering to rotate out days of the week you can come over and eat a good solid dinner, then they're not your friends.  That's a fact.

I'll never go hungry, because I surround myself with those sorts of friends, and they also know that my door is always open to them should they ever find themselves falling on hard times.

no one should ever be made to feel ashamed for needing food.  that's fucking barbaric.

[Whatever]

Fuck those people Suu.  You need to eat and you need to survive.  Apply for everything you can get if it will help you finish your education.  

I personally feel going to school is essential.  As there are rarely enough educational funds to cover everything 100%, I think students have every right to food stamps, SNAP and medical coverage.  They are trying to get an education, to get a better job.

I don't understand how anyone can argue or be mad about that!  Stupid people!!!

[LMNO]

I don't understand how anyone can argue or be mad about that!  Stupid people!!!

WE ARE NOT OUR BROTHER'S KEEPERS!
THAT'S IN THE BIBLE!
          \








LMNO
-reading comprehesion is for liberal pussies.

[Whatever]

Alphapance you are a very bad boy!!  Mrs Claus is going to spank you this Christmas!!!   

[Phox]

Alphapance you are a very bad boy!!  Mrs Claus is going to spank you this Christmas!!!   

[LMNO]

Well, as long as I get the pegging I asked for, then fine.

[Cain]

If I was a full-time student at the main campus and not the Providence campus, I'd be eligible for meal plans, health services, etc. But since I'm not,. I get a "cheaper" cost of attendance, but I also get the short end of the stick of what my school could offer me.

I pay over 10k a year in tuition only at a state school not including all the fun fees. If I remember correctly, I think you once told me I could go to St. Andrew's for about the same, and get an Ivy League caliber education at a fraction of the cost. Our higher ed system is so backwards it's disgusting.

And trust me, I'm making this as temporary as possible. $100 will feed me decently for a month.

Ah, I see. 

I checked and its closer to $15,000 to attend St Andrews, at current exchange rates, but that's not at all that far off. 

I dread to think what an English University would cost, my musically inclined friend is looking at paying $30,000 for her MA if she cannot get a scholarship.  That does include living costs, but with that she would not be eligible for jobseekers benefits, housing benefits etc.  She'd get a $7500 loan if she was lucky, and be told to fend for herself.  Obviously, she cannot afford that.  Foreign students would be hit with additional fees on top of that, starting next academic year, unless they were studying in Wales or Scotland, where the old costs still apply.

[Suu]

If I was an out-of-state attendee, I'd be paying almost 3x as much.  It would cost me 30k to go to the fucking University of Rhode Island, which is only a 2nd tier school, but it's a draw for basketball and hockey players because there's a higher shot of making the pros. Still though, that's almost as much as if I were to go to Brown.

But being from CT or MA, it would be about 1.5x as much...they give the neighbors a break.

My masters is going to cost me only $100 more a semester as of the current rates, but we'll see.

[Cramulus]

don't feel bad about it Suu. All those people that gave you shit are probably riding off of mommy and daddy's tuition money. Other people actually abuse the system, you're using it for what it's there for.

I have an emotional reaction to the assumption that people who get unemployment or other financial support services are just lazy or something. Society's real thin right now, there aren't enough resources to go around this year. It's not a measure of your character, you work harder than most people. We all do what we have to do to get by. Given the choice between your pride and your education, I think you made the right long-term choice.