A Summer of Work Toward Graduation

I had spent the summer preparing to return for my sixth semester at Hampshire. Traveling back to school, I brought with me the two finished write-ups for the Division One Exams I had started, as well as the rough draft of my Division Two. I had also written a proposal written for my final Division One Exam in Computer Learning, and a rough draft of a proposal for my Division Three in Cognitive Modeling.

Working to Graduate in Four Years

I did everything I could to be on track for a four year graduation. Retrospectively, I should have filed the proposals for the exams that I had started before I had finished my fifth semester, but I didn’t see any problem with filing and completing my exams in the same day as I had done with first Division One Exam.

Administratively Withdrawn Because of Payment Due

When I tried to get my room assignment for my sixth semester, I was shocked to learn that I had been administratively withdrawn from Hampshire College. Apparently, the bill for my fifth semester had never been paid, and that bill needed to be cleared before I could start classes.

Problems in My Family

What I didn’t understand at the time was the depth to which my mother had descended into cocaine addiction. Being the irresponsible, malicious wife of a rich, sociopathic doctor, she had chosen to spend all of the money that she and my father had set aside for my education to pay for her drugs.

Nowhere to Go

I was stuck. I had nowhere to go and I was told that the soonest I could talk with someone about my bill was the next day. Since I didn’t even have enough money to pay for a hotel, I slept in my car that night in the parking lot of the administration building.

My Tuition Based on My Parent’s Income

The next day I met with anyone who would talk with me to figure out how I could start classes and finish my Hampshire degree. I was told that since I had entered Hampshire as a dependent student, my tuition was based on my parents’ income and that full tuition needed to be paid before I could return to school.

No Combination of Financial Aid Possible

What I learned was that there were no combinations of student loans that I could take out to allow me pay for that semester or the remainder of the degree myself. I also learned that I would need to live completely separately from my parents for the next three years to be classified as independent, and for the available financial aid to be based on my income and not my parents’.

No Negotiation Possible

During the course of that day that I sat in waiting rooms and tried to negotiate with anyone who would talk with me to find any way that I could remain in school, there were the words of one financial aid woman that particularly burned in my mind.  She said, “You should have thought about the cost of Hampshire College before you applied.”

No Control of the Decisions Being Made for My Life

At the age of nineteen years old, how could I have anticipated the tragedy that was happening in my family?  And even if I could have anticipated it, what could I have done to change its course?  I was being thrown out of Hampshire College that day because of financial decisions I had no control over.  Further, according to Hampshire College’s admissions policy, acceptance was financially need blind, so my admission to Hampshire should have had nothing to do with my ability to afford it.

Threatened with Legal Action

My education was stopped on that day, and I understood that whatever Hampshire had said about valuing the individual was a lie. Further, I was also told that since I was not given a room assignment, if I remained on campus I would be arrested for trespassing.

No One Ever Saw the Work I Did

I drove back to New Jersey with my car still fully packed.  Despite the fact that I had spent the entire summer writing my exams, unless the bill was paid, no one would ever review the papers I had written that past summer.