I’m a junior at Hunter College majoring in Art History & Arts Management and Leadership, looking to work in the non profit and for profit arts in NYC. I pay for college with FAFSA, TAP, Pell Grant with the rest by working while going to school. The size of TAP has been an issue for me because I have to pay a lot due to my parents income but they do not contribute to my colleges fees at all. I am a first generation student and its difficult to not grow in an environment that does not prioritize studying. I have fair fares which cuts my fare rate in half but its still money taken away from school fees.This semester i bought a textbook that was almost $300 and I still had to buy other books.And for food,I rarely eat as I do not qualify for food stamps if I live with my parents even if I pay for my own things. This is the reality of many students in New York City. Advisement is not well suited for directing students to the proper places and often set a student back. I’ve been taking matters into my own hands regarding assistance with campus resources and my degree path. The buildings are dilapidated. There are nasty water leaks on one floor and broken tables in equipment on the next.In a class,a chair was broken and when I sat it stabbed me in the leg because metal was jutting out.In the womens restroons there are missing ceiling tiles and actual tiles in the bathrooms inside and over the stalls which make me worry that someone may have purposely done that or purposely not fixed it for nefarious reasons. The state of these buildings does not strike me with the joy that one should have when walking into college.
I am a sophomore studying digital design, I hope to get a job in animation. I pay for my tuition through financial aid. I am the first in my family to go to college and it’s a little stressful as I feel there’s a lot of pressure to be better than the people in my family as I’m a first generation. Some of my biggest financial costs have been paying for transportation, food and textbooks which is where I have to spend a lot of the money I earn working. I also have issues with our escalators and elevators often not working.
I am a political science major, and after graduation, I look to pursue higher education whether that be a graduate degree or a degree in law. Within my career, I would like to do something revolving around human rights advocacy. I am lucky enough that the Excelsior scholarship as well as a few others helped me receive an education tuition free. I have worked in the retail sector for over 2 years now and I work from 20-40+ hours a week depending on the time of the year and my availability. I have received funds from TAP, I would just like to make it accessible for more students and to cover more of the expenses. My biggest challenge when paying for college was paying the full cost of the tuition outright for my first semester, with the scholarships I was supposed to receive only giving me a refund at the end of the semester. As a commuter, I live at home with my single mother and we both work to pay our rent and afford all of our necessities. Recently the used car I had paid in full, broke down in the middle of the road and it was not salvageable. To make sure I had a reliable means of transportation to school and work, I had to get another used car from a dealership and I now have an additional 230 dollar monthly expense for 6 years. I have dealt with the problem of not having enough class options. Attending a school where the conservatories are the most funded, as a political science major, our program only has 2 full-time faculty, one of whom had taken the spring semester off for a sabbatical. As a result of this, the professors are very limited in what they can teach and none of the classes that were listed in my requirements for U.S. Politics and Law Courses were offered and my professor even brought up her concerns regarding this.The overall lack of accessibility for disabled people regarding the issues with the elevator in the humanities building and various other dormitories are big issues on campus. Another issue I had was that I was walking to class on a cold day and I did not realize that there was ice because my path was not closed off and was covered in snow. The ice caused me to trip and hurt my ankle pretty badly, and after 3 weeks I still have pain in my joint because of it. I really would want a more accessible and better-maintained campus to avoid any other injuries.
I’m a political Science major at Hunter graduating this semester. I paid for my higher education through FAFSA. I’d want TAP to be more proactive in notifying students to file, or even of its existence. I feel like there are students are unaware of TAP. One of my biggest issues is transportation costs. I didn’t have enough money to pay for a swipe and the train was coming, so instead of refilling my card I jumped the turnstile. Cops pulled to the side and gave me a ticket instead of a warning, which was so frustrating because it was hard to pay that ticket off. I almost never paid for a textbook or book in college just because some of the prices were outrageously high. I always relied on student networking (group chats, classroom) to share the textbook/book with me. It’s frustrating to see that professors are prevented from sharing the textbook for free for their students. Honestly, the worst experience at Hunter is the support system. It’s so bureaucratic and burdensome, I can’t speak with an adviser without having to send an email or make a virtual appointment. I’ve never seen my advisor or talked to my advisor, until my final semester. These offices are not welcoming to students and reminisce the same vibe as a DMV. There’s also issues with the infrastructure is terrible, I was constantly reminded of it every where I walked in Hunter. It really feeds into the stigma of public schools. The elevators are consistently useless, it’s honestly faster to take the stairs.
I’m a freshman studying international business and am the first in my family to attend college. To fund my education recieve TAP, and the Presidential Scholarship which is for 1 year and I pay 1/3 of my tuition & fees which is divided among my mother, my father, and myself. I was also supposed to receive work study. I was accepted to Purchase College with the understanding I would receive $2000 per semester through work study. Once I got here and applied for a work study job, I was informed that there was no longer enough funding for me to be a part of work study. This refusal has put me behind on paying my portion of education for this year. TAP award size hasn’t been modified/increased regularly and is a lot less significant considering the increases in tuition. The infrastructure isn’t the worst but I had to go without showering for a week because the showers in my bathroom were flooding and no one was coming to solve the problem. I struggled finding a therapist under my insurance for a while before college. When I arrived I started going to a therapist on campus, but I was told that I could only go for one semester because of lack of therapists for long term patients. I went for my fall semester and am now stuck without access to an affordable therapist. On the side of advisement, I had my academic advisor switch 3 times within my freshman year. No constant connection and I think this is one of the reasons I have decided to transfer from this school.
I’m a senior and my major is Political Science. I hope to get a job that works in politics whether that be for a campaign or working for a group that advocates for an issue. I was inspired to major in this because of the 2020 BLM Protests as well as being a Roosevelt Scholar at Hunter College. I receive both the Pell Grant and TAP to pay for my tuition. TAP is great but it could be simplified. One of the things I found confusing was Parent 1 and Parent 2. One time I kept receiving emails saying there was an error with my TAP and that I had to fix it. I never could find the error but eventually the TAP went through. I recommend simplifying it so that it would be less confusing.. Many times I have had to adjust my plans for what classes I was taking in a semester because a class I thought would be offered is not being offered or it is being offered at a time that conflicts with another class. I haven’t really had much advisement after my freshman year of college. I do have a once a semester meeting with the leader of the Roosevelt Scholars. There are also many issues with the upkeep of Hunter. The elevators are often broken, slow and make getting to class difficult at times. Many of the roof tiles are falling apart.
I am a junior getting aAnthropology/Media Studies/Philosophy BA at Purchase College. I work three jobs at school to help my parents pay for my education. My mom and dad also work multiple jobs. I get a scholarship from my Mom’s job, and the steaks are super high to maintain. This means I have to balance three jobs, an internship, and receiving high marks in all my classes which has been one of the most challenging things about attending college. I have experienced issues with affording the non-tution costs of getting my college education. For my majors there are many events off campus we need to attend such as museums, lectures at other colleges, and many books we are required to read. There is a push for professors to use the library’s course reserve where PDF’s can be published and printed. Some professors just refuse to use this resource which is incredibly frustrating because they will require multiple books only available on amazon. I have many required classes that I need to graduate but they meet at the same time every semester. Also many of my professors take leaves, or are spread too thin in their department due to adjunct professors not getting paid livable wages.At my school many of the buildings do not have proper heat or air conditioning, and the President will simply tell us to bundle up. Tiles are missing on pathways, and there are windows that have been broken for several semesters now. I am a tour-guide at Purchase and honestly it can be embarrassing to show aspects of the school that administration refuses to deal with.
I am a sophomore studying Health Science at Queensborough Community College. I pay for college out of pocket myself and do not receive any form of TAP and the cost has been one of the biggest challenges on campus for me. The class options are also very low, and trying to get in touch with advisement is hard and sometimes takes up to 3 hours just to see someone. The state of the campus is also really bad with elevators that never work. Please make CUNY free!
I am a senior at Hunter College and a Psychology major. I am a mother of three going back to school now my children are grown up and would like to help young people since when I was young I didn’t have that support. I was at BMCC my first two years and I got my associate’s degree. It was really nice because I didn’t have to worry about the burden of paying for my tuition books and transportation since I had ASAP with an unlimited metrocard and I had an excellent adviser. Unfortunately when I transferred to Hunter I didn’t have the same experience with the advisement. They made me take a class that I already took in BMCC and I felt that the adviser didn’t take me seriously. I had to take that class online with 300 other students and I didn’t learn anything since the professor couldn’t take the time to explain. I think one of the changes that CUNY could benefit from is extending ASAP since it is a great program to hire more advisers that care about students instead of making it more difficult. Fixing the heating system since sometimes the professor had to let us leave because it was too hot and there wasn’t anybody to put the heating down. I think going to university shouldn’t be a struggle and administration should help us to navigate the system.
I am a freshman at Hunter College. I had high hopes for my school over the next four years, and as exciting as it has been, Hunter is not without its flaws. One of the first issues I have noticed is overcrowding in classrooms and in the the buildings in general. From the broken elevators, to students working on the library floor to the advisors who have more students than they can handle, it is clear to me that this school lacks the funding to take care of itself in the most fundamental ways. I believe a better investment in our public education system would be a great way for the city to support its future generations.
