Xochitl, 38
Decatur, GA

Getting my degree is very important to me, because it is an accomplishment I have been trying to obtain for the last twenty years.
I have always wanted to attend college and be an example for my children. Being a single parent, however, [it] has been a difficult and challenging goal … I enrolled and was accepted [into] a University, however, I struggled balancing my children, working, and maintaining my grades … After the second year, I became ill … I was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia. While I was recovering at home, I received a letter from student admissions stating that I would not be able to return as a student. I had failed my math class three times and therefore, I had to sit out a year.

… I also received notice that I had to vacate my apartment because I was two months behind on my rent. I had to give up my dream of finishing school and instead, find a job and a new place to live … I had to file for bankruptcy. In 2002 … I began to rebuild my life … Just as I was establishing myself, emotionally and financially, I was diagnosed with a tumor on my cervix. In the summer of 2004, at the age of thirty-five, I had a hysterectomy, and my right ovary was removed … While I recovered at home, I volunteered in the leasing office of my apartment.

… My apartment manager would call me [to be a translator] when there was a new family that was moving in that needed assistance registering their children for school … In August 2005, one of the principals offered me a full-time position as an interpreter … In a city where the population of Hispanics has grown dramatically, it gave me the courage and determination to go back to school and obtain a degree so I could be a role model for the students.

In the fall of 2005, I was able to enroll at Kaplan University … it was a blessing for me. I was accepted, approved for financial aid, and was able to transfer some of my credits from the previous university. I was able to attend class while still being at home with my children. However in the last couple of months my life has drastically turned upside down …

I received a phone call. [My daughter] her grandmother dead in the bathroom. She was home alone and scared … I jumped out of bed, while I was getting dressed, I was directing my daughter to call 911. The ordeal was very painful. … After the funeral, I returned to Georgia with my children, I was out of work for a week so I could help ease my daughter’s pain …

During this time, I received a phone call from the financial aid office stating that I was maxed out on my federal loans, and that my Pell grant would not cover my tuition. I am eight classes away from graduation.

I now have to stop attending school … I am not eligible for private loans … because of my previous bankruptcy. I am already working two jobs because my son will be graduating in May 2008 from high school … I am saving money to assist him. I feel that each time I get closer to obtaining my dream, I have an obstacle to cross …