Iaritza Melendez

4409 Shorthorn Ln

Edmond, Ok 73034

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

Grand Rapids, MI 49523

June 7, 2019

Secretary DeVos,

My name is Iaritza Melendez and I am an undergraduate college student studying Pre-Veterinary

Medicine at Northern Oklahoma College and Oklahoma State University. My parents were
divorced when I was around three years old, so my mother raised me on her own. Being raised
by a single mother, I witnessed the struggles she went through just to get by. I never went
without what I needed, but I saw the challenges my mother faced just to put food on the table.
Affording the cost of living itself was a struggle at times for my family and the last thing I
wanted was to be a bigger burden on my family. When it was time for me to think about my
future, and my family’s future, I realized that the four short years I had in high school were going
to determine if attending college would be feasible.

According to Forbes.com, the cost for most four-year colleges has increased from $19,000 per
year to $26,120 per year. The average annual growth rate for the cost to attend a four-year
university was 2.6% per year. This increase doesn’t seem drastic, does it? Well, let us add in
some another percentage. In that same amount of time, the annual increase in wages was only
0.3%. With these numbers, it is obvious to see how much of a gap there is for the middle,
working class to try and catch up. The only way most students can afford to get any higher
education is through scholarships and federal aid.

Now, not everyone comes from wealthy families, where the expense of college is no extra
expense or burden, and FAFSA is the only solution for students, along with their families. The
student’s family is something that isn’t given enough focus. For example, I decided to go to
Oklahoma State University, it wasn’t only affecting me, it was also affecting my mother, my
younger siblings, and my stepdad. I was lucky enough to be able to receive financial aid along
with some scholarships from OSU because my first major I had chosen was architectural
engineering. Even with that help, I still had my own out of pocket expenses. My family was
supporting me while trying to support their home as well. The families still have to eat back at
home and still have their own bills along with their own gas tanks to fill up. My parents’ bills
didn’t stop because I went to college. Not enough people understand the struggle many families
face in order to get a higher education to achieve their own goals of becoming something better.
If “great” is the direction that we want America to be going, we have to allow students to be able
to have a better opportunity at achieving just that. Greatness begins from helping the weak, not
weakening the weak and strengthening the strong, but by strengthening the weak to build a
strong future for all. You can no longer turn a blind eye to avoid these true matters.

Something that can be agreed on is that there are opportunities for students to receive financial
aid, whether or not students actually get much help from financial aid is different. The
purchasing power of Pell-Grants has decreased over the years and only covers 30% of college
cost today. Again, going back the information provided by Forbes.com, there is a gap between
the increase of college tuition by 2.6% versus only 0.3% increase in wages over the years. In
March of 2019, you have discussed in front of congressmen your budget cuts in the education
department and thanks to C-SPAN.org, we have access to these discussions. Throughout any
interview or any questioning, there were no actual answers ever given. The answers that were
ever given were so very broad and very off topic. A question that was brought up by Senator
Tammy Baldwin quoted you with saying “These programs are thinly spread and not shown to be
effective,” followed by a question regarding where the data for your conclusion came from.
Then, in your words you stated, “Well since the program was reoriented in 2017, there was not
enough new data to be able to collect to do a specific research project.” Senator Baldwin then
proceeded on by confirming that there then was no data collected and making this cut was based
on assumptions that $30,000 isn’t sufficient enough to use. One of the points that were brought
up mentioned Work-Study for students. I agree that it is important that these qualifying jobs
should be more accessible to students and have more to them with being able to maybe use an
internship type of job for work-study. Making work-study available not just on campus but off
campus I believe is vital for many students. Not every student lives on campus, and most of
those jobs are usually being taken up already. There are limited openings for work-study
recipients so that is one move towards the right direction.

Sara Goldrick-Rab is the author of Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the
Betrayal of the American Dream. She has her own opinions which coincide with what Senator
Patty Murray had to say about affordable, accessible education. For me, I almost fell under the
category where I was uncertain if I was going to be able to receive any federal financial aid due
to my parent’s income. My stepfather brought in $X amount annually, and with that income I
could afford college, but when we look at reality and see that we had medical expenses,
mortgages, and insurance payments, again, families have their obligations to attend to outside of
sending their child to college. Sara Goldrick-Rab had this to say about financial aid

“Prospective students with the lowest income struggle because their families often
cannot contribute any funds at all toward college. And while they get the most federal
aid, notably from Pell Grants, this financial support still falls short. Many lower-middle
class families, on the other hand, fall into a trap — their families make far less than what
college prices demand, but too much to qualify for a Pell Grant. The current system is
divisive, using elaborate means-testing to create categories of students who “deserve”
help and those who do not. Those layers of paperwork and bureaucracy alienate the
families who are supposed to get financial aid, while also leaving families falsely deemed
“non-needy” short.”
In conclusion, we need to work towards providing better aid for students trying to better
themselves. The system now as it is flawed, and with these harsh budget cuts being brought into
play makes it unimaginable for middle class income students to continue on with their education
after high school. We cannot simply wish to “make America great again” without wanting to
make America great. The focus for education should always be about what is best for not only
the students, but for the future of this country. We need more success stories and more positivity
throughout the nations. Why should a single mother have to witness her daughter struggle trying
to become doctor, a successful contributor to society? Why does it seem that the system only
favors those who don’t struggle to make ends meet? I have my own answer that I came to terms
with, whether or not any changes are made on education access and affordability. My story will
be a great one, along with others who fall into the same predicament as I. The goal in education
should always be towards greatness. Thank you for the time you have devoted to read this.

Sincerely,

Iaritza Melendez
 Works Cited

Bromley, Mary. “Why Is College Tuition Rising So Much? And What Can You
Do?” Cornerstone University, Corner Stone University, 5 Mar. 2018,
www.cornerstone.edu/blogs/lifelong-learning-matters/post/why-is-college-tuition-rising-
so-much-and-what-can-you-do.

DeVos, Betsy, director. Education Department Fiscal Year 2020 Budget Request. C-SPAN, C-
SPAN, 28 Mar. 2019, www.c-span.org/video/?459264-1%2Fsenators-press-education-
secretary-devos-proposed-budget-cuts.

Goldrick-Rab, Sarah. “We Can't Afford to Price Middle-Class Families out of College.” Biden
Forum, Biden Forum, 14 Nov. 2018, bidenforum.org/we-cant-afford-to-price-middle-class-
families-out-of-college-9c6e7e787452.

Maldonado, Camilo. “Price Of College Increasing Almost 8 Times Faster Than Wages.” Forbes,
Forbes Magazine, 25 July 2018,
www.forbes.com/sites/camilomaldonado/2018/07/24/price-of-college-increasing-almost-8-
times-faster-than-wages/#8ce757666c1d.

I pulled the address from this website https://www.dbdvfoundation.org/contact . I wasn’t sure on

how to find the address for this essay, but this is where if I were to send this letter off, it would
go here. It is Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation.