In her own words

Through her answers, Open Door Scholarship recipient affirms the relief these funds provide.

The Open Door Scholarship application was made available starting August of 2020. Students who qualify receive tuition assistance to help them finish their degrees. One scholarship recipient shared portions of the answers she filled out in her application. This is just one example of the kinds of circumstances that can make paying for college daunting, coupled with the hope that scholarships like the Open Door provide.

Describe the financial hardship you have experienced as well as any barriers with have prevented you from obtaining other forms of financial assistance.

During the Spring 2020 semester, I had been laid off from all the jobs I had…. I applied for unemployment but didn’t qualify due to not making enough money beforehand. I had previously applied to jobs within walking distance since I had no transportation.
 
With my mother landed in prison and my adoptive family no longer speaking to me, I had no additional sources of income or support and had to use my savings to pay for rent…. I began sleeping in my car with my dog until I was able to sign a lease.

Now that classes have started, my working hours have been reduced so that I can focus primarily on school and internships.
 
Through all of this, my mental health has been affected a little bit and it can be hard sometimes to find the motivation to do things that would allow me to obtain other forms of financial assistance.

How would receiving this scholarship impact you and assist in achieving your short and long-term goals?

This scholarship would impact my long-term goal of getting out of debt as soon as possible. The thought of beginning to pay back student loans can be quite overwhelming, and the amount surely lessens when you receive a scholarship that you don’t have to pay back.
 
Receiving this scholarship would also allow me to reach my goal of graduating and save money for graduate school.
 
Overall, my most important long-term goal is to help myself so that I can help others as a social worker. This scholarship, no matter how big or small, will help me reach those goals on a larger scale.