<p>My name is Damon and I am very devastated by the news of my financial aid suspension. I am writing this in hope that you will reconsider your decision to suspend my financial aid. I would like to begin thanking you in advance for taking the time to read this letter and consider my request to reinstate my financial aid at PCC. I apologize for the lack of attention to my courses in previous semesters and I do not blame anyone but myself for this very sad consequence, however, I wish to explain the circumstances which distracted my from my studies.
The spring and summer semesters of 2008 was very overwhelming and stressful time in my life because my little brother who is in high school began hanging around with the wrong crowd and started spiraling out of control by skipping school, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and not coming home every night, Because he was skipping school the school would call our home and to my mothers work to inform us that he had been ditching school, and set up conferences with the principal to talk about why he had been ditching school. Besides from skipping school there were many times where he didn’t even came back home or call to let us know where he was. He came and went as he pleased. There were times where he won’t come home for 2 to 3 days then come back the next day. Then there was this one time when he didn’t come home for 5 days so my mother and I went to school to see if he had been to school only to find out that he hasn’t been to school as well. So the principal told us to go to the police station to file a missing person report which we did and the officer was asking why we didn’t came to the police sooner and we told them because he usually not home for 2 to 3 days then he returns home the next day. He returned home the next day. Because he was always getting in trouble our family couldn’t focus in our daily routines. There were also times where he wasn’t home by 7pm and my mother and I would go to his friends house to find him and when we get there we see him and his friends drinking alcohol and doing drugs so we pull him out of their and took him home. It seem like everyday we would have a family discussion along with my little brother who was ditching about what is best for him, either send him down to Florida so our aunt could take care of him or send him to a new school. Because of this situation there were many days and nights were I couldn’t concentrate in my studies. Unfortunately, this often necessitated me to miss class, submission deadlines, and a great deal of study time.
Meanwhile, the financial hardships at school were affecting me mentally as much as in my daily routine. On July 3,2008 my little brother borrowed my car to go to PCC to speak to a counselor about selecting courses for the fall semester but he had forgot to buy a daily parking permit. Because he had an early class I take the bus to school, while my little brother had to take my two other brother to school and my mother to work. And when classes ended that day I went to my car to go home but only to find a parking ticket, a big orange shoe on one wheel, and a red tag telling me to pay 5 parking tickets totalling 355 dollars. Since I had no money on me at the time I called my older brother to loan me 400 dollars to pay off the 5 parking tickets my little brother had gotten for not buying a daily parking permit. After paying it off on July 7, 2008 I cashed my financial aid check and gave everything to my older brother for helping me pay the tickets. Of course, this left me with no money to buy books, making keeping up in the class nearly impossible. It was very difficult for me to concentrate and do well in class when I had to put my family ahead of myself. Because of that I failed and dropped all my classes. I was unaware that these choices would cause me to lose the opportunity for financial assistance in the future. Although there have been many family obligations that I chose to focus on instead of my studies, I completely take responsibility for my performance. I understand that no matter what my circumstances are it is my responsibilty to keep my grades satisfactory to receive financail aid. I do realize that I neglected my studies and I would like another chance to do better in them. Education has always been an integral part of my life and I am willing to fight for the opportunity to continue my studies. This is the point in my life when I truly realize who I want to become and what I have to do to achieve it. My situation has changed greatly since the fall of 2007 at PCC when most of my family obligations were interfering with my studies. My little brother has gotten his act together and doing well in a new school and hes not hanging around his old friends anymore and he even got a part time job. I recently found a part time job as well. I firmly believe that I will be able to complete my studies successfully. I have compiled a list of steps I need to take in order to be successful in school: 1) I will obtain a tutor for classes I find difficult. 2) Meet with each of my instructors to find out what would make me a better student in their class. 3) I will continue to work on my time management, so that I can balance my family and studies together. 4) I will go to classes to take advantage of what they have to offer.
My goal is to transfer to Cal Poly Pomona to earn a degree in Business Administration with a minor in CIS. This is very important to me and without financial aid, I lack the financial ability to do this. I am sure that you know what a huge honor and accomplishment it is to obtain a degree. Education is extremely important to me and I am a student who is very serious about my future. Regardless of my previous poor work ethic, I learned my lesson. I am a mature person and if given a chance, I will display that what I had done in the past academically was not only a mistake, but a mistake that will never be made again. There isn’t anything else that I want mroe than to obtain a degree. With all sincerity I ask that I am given another opportunity and not denied any financial assistance. Without this enormous blessing I am unable to attend school. To receive my degree is extremely important to me because it would help me obtain a decent career. Therefor, I would humble request this committee to give me one last chance to continue my studies uninterruptedly so that I can prove myself that I have what it takes to follow my dream</p>
<p>One suggestion that will only stand to benefit your future college education and career. You may want to take a few English courses. Your writing is lacking professionalism…it is written more like one having a vocal conversation with the FA Office. I would recommend running your letter through Microsoft Word, as it will be able to catch some ofyour mistakes. </p>
<p>Please PLEASE do not take this as criticism…some people (myself included) have to work hard to create coherent and grammatically correct letters.</p>
<p>Much too long and very hard too read. Try and convey your story in fewer words. </p>
<p>Also when my son did a financial aid appeal he had to provide supporting documentation.</p>
<p>You should try to limit those excursuses about your brother’s exploits–they’re really callow and convey a lack of personal responsibility, contradicting what you say towards the end of your letter. I advise you to compress all that into one statement (or short paragraph at most) expressing how your brother’s follies negatively affected your study–but skip the detailed anecdotes. Your personal objective should follow. Also, go over your grammar–there are comma splices and the contractions, i.e., “I’m,” “couldn’t”, etc., are not advised for a formal appeal.</p>