My uAspire advisor was very hands-on, a big help when I was filling out financial aid applications and telling me what resources were available to me.

My family was struggling to figure out how to send their first child off to college, so having someone there to tell my mom and my dad, “Hey, I know things are hard. You have multiple kids to worry about. Here are the steps and here are the things that you can do to help her get through.” Even as I was transferring to different schools, uAspire was still there reaching out with scholarship opportunities and asking, “Hey, do you need financial help?” I applied for the Last Dollar Scholarship and was able to use it for books as well as school and lab fees. I’m most proud of getting my bachelor’s degree. I initially wanted to start work after getting my associates degree, but it was actually the youth at my youth center who encouraged me to further my education and go for my bachelor’s degree. And I was just like, “All right, let’s go for it.”