As a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), I was enrolled in CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs, also known as ASAP. My ASAP advisor at BMCC would email me every couple of weeks to remind me that I had to start considering senior colleges. During every meeting, he always asked me, “Lyric, have you been looking at potential senior colleges?” My answer was always no. I had put it off so much so that I wound up just picking the two universities closest to my apartment on the day of the transfer application deadline — I didn’t want to spend too much time commuting.
Since I moved to New York about five years ago, I had been handling things on my own. My dad isn’t from the United States, and does not understand the education system here. This wasn’t something that bothered me. I completed my GED program, and got through a two-year associate’s degree program just fine by myself. It was stressful and there were a few hiccups along the way, but I had made it. So I could only imagine that this would be a similar experience.
Once the housekeeping was done and the semester started, I expected things to be easier. Yet I still felt very alone and very confused. My best friend had gone to the same school with me and we had all our classes together, but I felt completely isolated. Even after I thought things like my financial aid were complete, they weren’t. Financial aid was constantly an issue. Every semester I had been picked for verification and when I asked why, I was told, “it was a random selection.” At one point a financial aid advisor told me that “I should just take out a loan, 50 percent of City College students take out loans.” I knew that wasn’t true, and it wasn’t until my time working with Young Invincibles that I learned only 17 percent of City College students take out loans.
Lyric Young is a graduating senior at City College of New York and a member of Young Invincibles’ Spring 2020 New York Young Advocates Program.