Struggle for survival: Homeless woman pursuing goal of college education

Pasadena Star-News ^ | 7 December 02 | Cindy Chang

[shezza]

It's admirable that this unending series of bad judgment wants to make something of her life.... Unfortunately, it appears the bad decisions are continuing. Still, I do wish her success, and hope she does get her life back on track. Perhaps the triple degree will help her obtain the kind of job she wants so she will actually EARN her living, instead of living off of taxpayer and charitable handouts.

[wideawake]

Maybe she should be pursuing a home and a job.

[goodnesswins]

Something just doesn't RING RIGHT about this story.....

[Drango]

tentative plans to triple major in law, music and languages...

>Unfortunately, it appears the bad decisions are continuing.

Yeah, like music will get her a job?

[camle]

gee. nobody wrote about ME when I was homeless and going to school...

[FreeTally]

tentative plans to triple major in law, music and languages...

How exactly does one major in law, without first getting a degree in something else and going to law school? The story mentions nothing of her persuing law school. And she will get no job with a music degree. And languages, who knows.

It almost sounds as if this story has been "puffed up", and many sordid details left out. I admire the woman for trying to better herself, but she would be much better off going to a tech school than a regular college. She could complete the required courses with two years and be on her way to getting back on her feet.

[HamiltonJay]

While I have empathy for this person, I don't think she is homeless due to a few bad decisions. This is a story of a lifetime of bad decisions... I can tell you some real stories where a few bad decisions have caused people to wind up in very dire straights.. this lady is not among them.

I commend her for surviving, and for attempting to make things better. I hope she pulls it off.

[anobjectivist]

Let's see...

She parented 4 kids, which the state pays for.
She's getting a ~$230 a month welfare check, which the state pays for.
She's pursuing a triple major in three liberal arts areas which will most likely still lead to unemployment.
She is not working, and somehow thinks that 3 liberal arts degress will instantly get her a job.

I think she would be better off working and paying for her college education under her own steam.

[EggsAckley]

There are a large number of homeless attending classes at my local Junior College. Funny thing is though, they're taking classes such as music, poetry, art........not very useful stuff.

One particular class had a homeless guy who wore the same clothes for the whole semester, and never washed them. He smelled SO bad that the teacher actually had to talk to him about it. Of course, welfare was paying him to take class, but didn't bother to see WHAT classes he was taking. I don't think that music classes were going to get him a job. It's a strange situation.

[gaijin]

[planning to triple major in ] law, music and languages

Unfortunately, two of her three choices are interesting, but highly impractical.

A woman with her rich experience should already know this, but it really does seem that she has little breathing room for studies that are merely interesting --that means that this woman was born with poor judgement.

That's what got her in the first place.

[gaijin]

Took the words right out of my mouth!

[TheBigB]

nobody wrote about ME when I was homeless and going to school

Was it during the Clinton era? Everyone knows that there are NO homeless people ever when a Demorat is in the WH...

[KantianBurke]

it sounds like this woman suffers from bi polar disorder or maybe even paranoid schizo: aimless thoughts, packrat mentality ect ect

[EggsAckley]

Let's see... She parented 4 kids, which the state pays for.

Wrong........

Tia, her fifth child, was born in Santa Barbara

She has FIVE children. (ye, gods!)

[shezza]

Something just doesn't RING RIGHT about this story.....

Here, let me help:

She paid for hotel rooms during a string of rainy days in mid-November, quickly exhausting her budget. (Couldn't stay with friends on the living-room sofa?)

...when the college she planned to attend required her to take remedial math courses first, she balked. (Was easier to drop out altogether and thumb her nose at the university than take one little 45-minute math class twice a week?)

Instead of going to college, she fell in with an older man and had her first child at 19.... She found a new boyfriend and had three children by him in quick succession. But he didn't want to marry her, either.... her fifth child, was born in Santa Barbara. (What's there to say?)

...ended up on welfare. (Sigh...none of the jobs in the newspaper looked like something she wanted to do.)

She found herself frequently at odds with landlords, school officials and other parents. (That sentence alone speaks volumes.)

She pays $130 to $170 a month to a storage facility rather than get rid of the photo albums and personal papers she has accumulated over the years. (Good Lord! How many photo albums and papers could she possibly have? When we moved, we shoved all our furniture AND my mother-in-law's stuff, as well, into a facility that was less than $80 a month!)

...leaving less than $50 for food and other expenses. (There ya go. Maybe part of the education program should include Budgeting 101.)

She is looking for a part-time job to supplement her welfare money. She estimates she has sent out more than 50 resumes so far. She is also on the lookout for an apartment she can afford. (McDonald's doesn't need a resume. Neither does cleaning houses, like her mother does. And why does she need an apartment of her own? Her kids aren't with her. She could be a roommate and spend $100 a month with 3 other women, instead of trying to find a $200 apartment by herself.)

I think I'm getting a headache.

[anobjectivist]

Oops, my mistake. Although the point still remains.

[EggsAckley]

Yup. Four, five......who's counting. Let's see, she gets $221 a month, then the state pays for her five children in foster homes. I don't know how much the foster homes get, but it probably adds up to a tidy sum of taxpayers' money.

[GovernmentShrinker]

All this woman needs to get jolted back to reality is to have her welfare check and student financial aid cut off. But don't hold your breath.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Brooms can also tell you how to breathe from your diaphragm

Forget college, I'll pay to see you to that. Sounds like intern material to me.

[Redbob]

I can tell her how to afford an apartment:

GET AN EFFING JOB, STUPAH!