McKenzie Go To College

It was brought to my attention today that we will not be receiving the funding that was to be put aside to pay for McKenzie's tuition. Taking this step is the hardest thing for me to do, as asking for help is the most uncomfortable situation to be in for me. I have had to put these feelings aside because my daughter has absolutely fallen in love with the idea of attending an HBCU and attending NCCU and I will willingly put my pride aside to help my daughter.

To offer you some information regarding McKenzie, we are from Las Vegas, NV and this is where we currently live. We moved back to Las Vegas, from Atlanta, one month prior to McKenzie starting her high school freshman year. Soon after school started, my uncle was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer and the same for my mother just eight months after. Needless to say, we were suffering greatly, both mentally and emotionally. My parents and uncle had always been our main source of support. By the time McKenzie was entering her junior year, we had lost my uncle and both of my parents to cancer, with my dad and her paternal grandmother both passing away, hours apart, just days before school started. McKenzie's grades and GPA were suffering greatly, as she had always been a high-achieving student.

With the help of counseling and our faith, McKenzie worked extremely hard to make up credits and pull her GPA back up to an acceptable average. Throughout the last two years, she has served as the President of the Black Student Union, Delta Gems Historian, Regional Lieutenant Governor for Key Club, and City Youth Commissioner for Henderson, NV. She managed to graduate with an honors diploma, a 3.8 GPA and achieved a 22 on the ACT. She literally crawled her way out of one of the darkest moments and found herself in a great position to be accepted into college.

McKenzie received acceptance offers from nearly 20 schools, but NCCU captured her heart. I have tried to convince her to maybe stay home for a year because I just simply can not afford to pay for college. I exhausted all savings to be able to be the caregiver for my uncle and parents. My mom was diagnosed during the height of COVID which meant that she would have died alone if in the hospital or hospice, so I stayed home to care for her at her house. And to just add icing on the cake, the grant program that I currently work for was not refunded and my current position ends on September 30th.

This is literally our story, but it has only forced us to get closer to God and learn to lean in and rely on our faith that it is all going to work out as long as we don't give up. We won't ever give up!!

All of this background information to get to my request. McKenzie will be entering NCCU as an out of state student. She has been awarded financial aid at around $5000, $3500 scholarship, and a small loan (these amounts will be split in half for each semester). She needs another $16,000 to cover the cost of this upcoming semester. With my employment on the line, I can not take on any additional debt, but I truly don't want to be the cause of my baby not being able to fulfill the dream that she has worked so hard for.

I would absolutely appreciate any any any help that you may be able to offer us. I am seeking assistance with securing in-state tuition for her future semesters, but we have not heard anything back as of yet.