Help Me Stay In School

In March 2017, I was contacted by the Maryland Higher Education Committe and they offerred me a full ride to any school in Maryland that was on their list through the Guaranteed Access Grant. I initially planned to go to community college after finding out my college decisions. But I decided to attend theUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County because of this opporunity I received. My mother is a single-mother with 5 dependents in our family. She barely makes enough for us to get by and this grant was an opportunity I could only dream of having. 2 months after reciving the email, I sent in all of my information for the grant and then was told to wait patiently for the grant to come in July. Come July, I did not receive the grant and was told I failed to turn in all of my paperwork to receive the grant. I turned in the paperwork they requested 3 times and was told I was going to receive the grant. Oddly, they sent me an email telling me I did not turn in my paperwork. My mother takes off of work for the 4th time and they tell us we are no longer elligible for the grant because of the mistake an employee made. I persist for an entire month and finally get in contact with the director of the MHEC. She tells me she will give me the grant and I am relieved . Then she calls me back an hour later telling me my family is not elligible to receive the grant because of child support sent to my younger sister in 2015. For 6 months I had planned my life around this grant and fought to save it, only to be told that the 2002 minimum wage child support my father pays my sister makes me unable to receive the grant. I am in a predicament because now I am in school but need $6,000 by next Friday or I'll have to leave UMBC. My entire family is devastated at the fact that I will not receive the grant, considering we had the impression I would receive itfor 6 months now. My mother has no way of paying loans as we can barely put food on the table some nights. I ask that you please help me acheive my dream of getting an education to take my family out of poverty.