Dear Congress,

Today, I woke up early to get a head in studying for an exam I have coming up in a few weeks. After studying for a few hours straight I decided to take a break.

That is when my heart broke.

I read that you, Congress, passed the bill that cuts the post-9/11 GI Bill in half. Now, that it has passed, and now that is in effect I wish you would rethink your decision. Let me tell you why.

I am the first in my family to go to college, and for a long time I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to attend due to the cost of universities today. The tuition alone is a nightmare that kept my parents and myself up late at night because we honestly didn’t know how we could afford it. I worked diligently since the third grade to do the best that I possibly could to ensure that maybe I would receive enough scholarships where that financial burden wouldn’t exist for myself and for my parents. We didn’t find out about the Yellow Ribbon until after I had applied to my current university and had been accepted. We knew nothing about the program because it really wasn’t advertised. Thankfully, once we learned about this aid it presented a blessing that answered my family’s prayers. I would be able to attend college, and not have to worry about entering adulthood overburdened with student debt. My tuition was 100% covered because my stepfather transferred his GI bill, and I was able to receive a monthly stipend to help stay afloat.

Not every student who receives the post-9/11 GI bill is as fortunate. Luckily, I still had 100% remaining in the payout portion so I am able to have four years covered, but many others don’t. Some get 6 months, a year, maybe two. But we all rely on it to help us make our lives better. Honestly, it pains me to see the decision you have made because I don’t think you really know what we, those who rely on the stipend and on the bill to change our lives , look like personally. Most of us looked at college as somewhere we wanted to be, but knew there was no way we could afford it. The stipend allowed us to survive by providing us a means to afford the outrageous cost of books, rent, meal plans, and other necessities that we need to live. College isn’t cheap; college costs us everything and more.

Somehow that doesn’t seem to matter to you all. You severely cut the stipend to the children receiving the post- 9/11 GI Bill to try and save $750 million. Our futures became a number on a spreadsheet, and cutting it in order to fund other military projects didn’t seem that hard of a choice for you all. I mean you guys aren’t in college anymore, so you don’t have to worry about the things we do. We get that. I get that.

However, if one of your kids relied on this program to go to college and you had to tell them that you voted to take away their ability to pay for college could you do it? Could all of you honestly tell your kid we took your ability to have a future away? I know for damn sure I couldn’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Now, imagine all the parents that have to tell their kids across the nation about this. This is going to suck. I mean, it caught me by surprise and now I have to reconfigure everything to ensure that I can still graduate without debt, and afford to live.

As a recipient of the post-9/11 GI bill, this cut has just complicated the rest of my college experience. It is now going to be harder for me to make ends meet, save for things, pay off meal plans, buy books, apply for law school, pay for gas, and many other things that are considered a necessity. I mean the amount I am given if you break it down is less than minimum wage. I cannot live off of the post 9/11 GI Bill alone. When the first reductions were made it made making ends meet difficult. I now work two on-campus jobs, I can’t work part time, and balance 20+ hours every semester to ensure that I graduate with my dual degrees. Still though, I live from month to month barely scraping by. It sucks, it is hard, but I don’t have a choice in the matter. But you guys did. I know for a fact that I am not alone in now knowing that this has become a tough reality. I am among a good amount of students at my university that rely on this aid. Just imagine as every student across this nation reads over your decision, and stand behind me in hopes that this bill does get changed.

By cutting that stipend you have hurt this country. Many of its brightest minds and hardest working students, today and down the road, will have to reconsider their options about finishing college because we cannot afford it. We come from hardworking families, most are enlisted. College is a blessing, not just to us as the recipients but to our families as well. We have to take care of them down the road, and college provides the opportunity to not only better our lives but to better our families as well.

For the sake of me, for the sake of my peers, for the sake of the students of this nation, please reconsider your decision. That’s all we ask of you. I know this decision will heavily impact the future of this nation in more ways than you could ever imagine. I know this because I and my peers are the future of this nation.

If you continue to stand by this decision to hinder our ability to help make this nation better than you have done a disservice to the generations after you.

Remember, we will be the ones to bear the cross that you have constructed in the name of fiscal management, not you.

Remember, that you will have to answer to your constituents in your state and districts about why exactly you made this decision.

We aren’t numbers. We are people.

Remember, that you will have to look at young kids and tell them that the hope they had for paying for college won't be there for them when they turn 18. Remember that.

Sincerely,

An American College Student