Tuition Money for my Final Years!

Hi, my name is Elizabeth Lyton and I am currently attending Stony Brook and majoring in Respiratory Care to become a Respiratory Therapist. I attended the High School of Graphic Communication Arts in NYC and, although it was a dangerous, underperforming school, I graduated third in my class and went to University of Tampa.  I went down to a whole new state all alone without any kind of monetary support from my family—my GCA teacher, Ms. I, and her sister moved me in. At the University of Tampa, I was a Nursing major. I applied to the Nursing program and got rejected with a GPA of 3.7 because I scored within the school’s stated TEAS test range, but other students had higher scores. I was heartbroken.  I had to wait an entire year to reapply, so I decided I would change my major but stay in the medical field.

My sophomore year of college, my dad’s health got worse and he was in and out of the hospital very often, which drove me to leave Florida and head back home to NYC, so I transferred to Stony Brook.  I became an RA to help pay for some of my bills, although my meal plan is reduced instead of covered, and I am maintaining a B average.  After looking into the Physician’s Assistant program and weighing it against Respiratory Care, I decided to apply to the Respiratory Care program and was accepted!  Despite leaving Tampa as a rising junior, I lost time at Stony Brook because of transferring credits and because my new program, the Respiratory Care program, is a mandatory two years.  I am so excited and more than grateful to have been accepted to my program, and I am aiming to graduate with honors.

 Now it will be my 5th year in school, and my Stafford loans are being revoked because I have used the total of $31,000 for school. Once that is no longer helping me to pay for tuition, I will have to pay out of pocket for school. I work two jobs, one on campus and one off campus, and they are not enough to pay for school. My Respiratory Care program is very intensive and I can’t work any more than two jobs if I want to maintain my grades, so without outside help, I won’t be able to stay in school. I’m maxed out on my loans because I’m paying for college by myself, I’m already in a huge amount of debt and I won’t be able to pay it back until I receive a job offer as a Respiratory Therapist.

So please, I hope you can find it in your heart to donate to make it a little easier to afford college. My parents aren’t supporting me through college and doing it alone can get hard enough. Thank you for any kind of contributions you decide to donate to me!