Help Zaria Finish School at Howard University!

Hello! My name is Zaria Smith and I’m currently a junior psychology major and human development minor at Howard University. I’ve decided to use this as a last resort in order to help pay for my tuition as Howard continues to raise their tuition every year making it harder for someone like me to pay for school which is fully funded through loans and scholarships.

Growing up in a single parent minority household while also living in a low income community makes paying for college extremely difficult. In order to keep my mom from experiencing any kind of educational debt due to my college funds, I promised her that she would never have to pay a dime out of her own pocket and that I would do whatever it takes to get through school solely from my student loans and scholarships.

I’ve been fully capable of paying for my tuition through these said loans and scholarships for my first two years of college in order to keep this financial burden off of my mother's shoulders. However, as I stated before as Howard continues to raise their tuition it only makes it harder as a student to keep up with the extra expenses that I am required to pay in order to complete my junior and senior year at Howard. As class registration slowly comes to an end, I have yet to register for any classes, access my grades and transcripts (which keeps me from applying to certain scholarships and internships) which is due to my unpaid tuition balance.

As a psychology major it is my dream to work alongside other psychiatrists as a pediatric psychiatrist while helping to treat the youth who deal with underlying mental health issues and traumas. I’ve come way to far to let my dreams and education go waste and giving up and dropping out of school cannot be an option.

I am grateful for any help I can receive especially in this time of inflation that is effecting everyone. Thank you for taking the time to read my story and happy holidays!