I got turned down for CalGrant this year. For those not familiar, CalGrant is the California State College Grant System. CalGrant has three flavors: A, B, and C. Apparently, my Tech School Bachelor program doesn’t qualify for C; My wife and I make too much money for B (the cap is $30k per year); and I don’t have enough “need” to qualify for CalGrant A.

Anyways, I’m sitting here filling out a scholarship application through my school. After I got past questions like “Full Name”, “SSN”, and “Is a third party contributing to your education?”, I get to the essay part. “Please write a one page essay that describes your need for a scholarship award.”

I could go into how $49k per year for two people with an infant in the SF Bay Area is barely livable, but mainly I just want money for college. Who really wants to pay back $37k worth of tuition? It wouldn’t take me a page to explain that, only a few sentences.