zlacker

>>pessim+(OP)
Where is the support for the middle class? The ones deemed too wealthy for financial aid, but not wealthy enough to actually afford the cost of college?

Just more tax dollars being siphoned away from my family that got zero assistance.

>>ecf+E7
I grew up on welfare in a shit neighborhood, but now I'm an upper middle class engineer. Trust me, poor people need the help. We are all indirectly benefitting from people getting out of poverty.

>>TheBig+Im
Unsympathetic take. Lots of people can use help. Just because you're on welfare doesn't necessarily mean your financial position is any worse (especially as a dependant).

I'm not from the US, but here in the UK when I when went to college and university the state would give students several thousand pounds a year for their parents being unemployed. My dad was a postman who used to do delivery driving on the weekend for extra cash for my family. We were poor, although I was deemed "wealthy" enough to be given no help because my dad made around £30,000.

The end result of this was that I basically the poorest person I knew from 16-21 because my friends either had unemployed parents so were given thousands of pounds to spend on laptops and things to help them get through university, or had rich parents who could buy stuff for them.

Because my dad was a postman I ended up having to work two jobs while at university and had to go into my overdraft almost every month.

Looking back now I am grateful for that hellish 5 years since I actually gained a lot of professional experience in tech during that time, but it came at the cost of severe depression and physical exhaustion. I cannot explain how difficult this period of time was for me. It shaped who I am today but I wished daily that my dad was unemployed so I didn't have to go through it.

>>kypro+xC1
Once at college I did feel the playing field was even, but you may be missing a lot of context before that. I grew up on welfare with a single mother, in a neighborhood where all of my friends were on welfare with single mothers. Only a handful of my neighborhood friends went to college. NONE of my hometown friends are STEM people. That stuff isn't even close to their radars. It took me years in college to get out of a petty criminal mindset and just be a regular person. I still don't feel like I belong amongst "rich" people (aka middle class).