Hello all 1258 wonderful students in Columbia's School of General Studies. Today, I propose a nine-path solution towards............................Scratch that. No four prong strategies. No eight steps to GS bliss. No protesting, picket signs, or Kleenex moments. Straight talk. Daily.

Every day for the next six days, we're going to blog about one concern that we have as students here in New York. Financial Aid, Housing, Advising, Parity, and my personal favorite, the "We are GS" Community campaign. Let's kick around some ideas regarding each one.

First up on the docket - drumroll please .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Solving our Financial Crisis.

Money Talks, and Money Walks

Last year as many of us recall, the student-run fAiR Coalition was formed to address undergraduate financial aid at Columbia University. Notice the terms being used - "undergraduate" financial aid. The Coalition received over 1100 signatures from students across the University requesting that the debt burden of students be relinquished for those whose families make less than $50,000 per year. A noble goal. So noble in fact, it is now a done deal at Columbia College and SEAS. Many of us in GS signed the petition; yet when we were organizing a greater GS presence within the Coalition, this is what one of the founders of fAiR wrote back to me saying via email ,

"when creating the platform we decided to limit our demands to CC/SEAS undergraduates, not because we don't want to work with you but because a-to be quite honest, i think GS sort of slipped our mind and b-because we evaluated what we deemed the University would find feasible"


WOW! Imagine the irony. Students from Columbia's other colleges fighting for the financial rights of underprivileged parents across America being able to afford to send their students to college. Yet, those very same parents and older Americans go to school on the very same campus.

Financial Prudence

It's true, our unique model deserves a different approach. The average GS student takes 11.2 credits per semester. We are in the midst of an enormous $25 million GS Financial Aid capital campaign that promises to add over $1 million annually to GS scholarships. We must be proud of a school that is prioritizing its future to meet our needs today. When our capital campaign is over in 2011, we can look back and know that we fought the good fight and sacrificed of ourselves to ensure that the ones who come after us will be able to dream by daylight and sleep soundly by nightlight. Yet, what can we do today?



Many of us would like to push for a "flatter" flat-tuition. What are you thinking? Is this part of the solution, or a quick fix?






Well, can't we just give everyone a few thousand more in scholarships and grants? What would it take for everyone to get an extra $5,000? Is that goal reasonable or difficult? Let's look at a hypothetical situation. (An extreme example will be shown) Easy or Hard?


Not so easy! We have trained career professionals who fund raise for a living, and building our endowment is their passion and lifeblood. Let's put our faith into helping our School be proud of our accomplishments so that alumni may see a bright future ahead!

My Nephew Nikolas and Financial Aid

I was thinking the other day of what it means to sacrifice so much for us to accomplish our dreams as non-traditional students at GS. You know, the sort of questions that ask, "Why - why do we do it?" Then I got an email from my sister, who is one of the strongest women I know. Some of you who know me know my background - German/Pakistani/Black American. My mother had me when she was 16 as a Catholic villager in Germany, and she met my father, an American GI, - who adopted me as a baby and moved to the United States. Along came my sister four years later, and we share something that transcends immigration, or the horrors of Detroit where we were raised, or the multi-racial bloodlines we share. It's something much deeper, and I wanted to share an email I got from her this Wednesday on why our dreams mean so much to us.

Hello Brother!

I just wanted to drop a few lines to say that I love you! and I miss you and I am very proud of you and all that you have accomplished.
When I look at my son I am constantly reminded of you. He is so amazing and super smart. I'm glad he received your genes.
I think about you all of the time and our childhood that we were blessed to spend together. I am greatful for Mom and Dad teaching us
the importance of family and spending time with your kids. I look at Nikolas and I just feel that he deserves so much more. He deserves
love unconditionally, like the love that we have.
I can make a promise to you, that the world has not seen
all that I have to offer. I will finish school and I will become something... I can't say better than what I am now, because Nikolas is
everything to me, but I want him to be proud of his mommy and I want to make others proud of me too.
Anyway, I just wanted you to know how much I do love you and I miss you tremendously!

God Bless!

Now, if we place ourselves as the trustees of the future and benefactors of the present, is it not our duty, our sworn oath to help those who work ungodly hours to make their dream come true, to help those who are mothers, soldiers, dreamers, and OUR future, to help those who give of themselves until there is nothing left? I want to be at a School that cherishes what we contribute, and I want to be around students who cherish their School. Everyone deserves a chance to be great - and when money stands in the way, we all lose. So people ask, "Well, what are the specifics, what is the plan? How do you plan on changing financial aid." I'll post documentation on what I believe - but more importantly, the question is should people like my sister Nikola or her son Nikolas be able to come to a school like GS one day in the future, and say that GS is where their "Life, part II" began?