EBCI Higher Education: is it a scam?

Okay, maybe scam isn't the right word, but you get what I'm saying? For those of you who don't know, I am an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. Fortunately enough, my tribe pays for every enrolled member who wishes to attend higher education, with a few guidelines and rules. You have to maintain a certain GPA, also be enrolled as a full-time student, and you pay back the tribe for any classes you fail. Seems like a dream right? WRONG. Try more of a nightmare. While I am forever grateful for everything my tribe has done for me, and I recognize that I would not be able to attend UC Berkeley on my own, I still think it is important to address the issue at hand. Please do not think by me writing this, that I am ungrateful in any way. It's just that I've been fighting with them for too long, I've heard stories from many students about what they've went through at higher ed. If I don't make it public, who will?

So just some context before we dive in, when I refer to higher ed, I am referring to the program that my tribe operates. Higher ed is the entity that handles the finances of each enrolled members University and College. When you apply for higher ed, you are given a mentor, who is over your student records and finances. I really don't want to catch a case over this, so we will leave out names of everyone involved. If you really want to know who I am talking about, you can also personally reach out to me and ask.

So basically, I've been fighting with higher ed since the beginning of Fall semester last year. There was an issue my freshman year of college, where the was a $3,000 bill that higher ed, and myself, could not figure out where it was coming from. As a student with higher ed, you are also required to turn in documents before they cut you any check. These documents include: GPA, Full semester bill, and class schedule. I turned in everything. They still wanted me to personally reach out to UC Berkeley, and I even tried previous times before being told. However, here is my problem. I am unsure of what my responsibilities as a student are at this point. The people who are employed for higher ed all have college degrees and are HIRED to handle my finances. So why is it that I also find myself doing their job for them?? and they're the ones who end up getting paid for it. Everyone back home preaches to students to attend higher education and college, but it is extremely hard to thrive at college, when we have to be concerned about the security of our education. This past year, higher ed has put so much extra stress on top of everything else I have been doing at Cal. I am glad that I was raised to be strong and be able to handle anything thrown my way, but I know other people are not as fortunate. I can see why so many students take the option of dropping out, because it is a lot to have to deal with. As a student, I am disappointed in Higher Education, and really wish they would do better.

Also, update on the $3,000, I ended up having to just pay it myself...

So fast forward to this morning. I have been back in Berkeley since the 1st of august, and have been in RA training since the 5th. Today is move-in day for incoming freshmen, and I spent all day yesterday preparing door decs, our first community chat, and welcome letters. It dawned on me that I still hadn't received my tuition check, so I emailed the last person I had spoken to at higher ed before I left for the semester. Turns out, my mentor is on maternity leave until September, and I received an email from someone I don't even know at higher ed, stating that they were still missing items from me, and couldn't cut my check because of it. I literally started crying. I would like to say that I am shocked, but not surprised, because this has became the norm for higher ed. They never communicate anything to you until the last minute. So of course, knowing me, I wrote a strongly worded email to the Principal Chief, and CC'ed the Vice Chief, Chairman of Tribal Council, and the vice chairman as well.

I guess now it is time to sit back and see what those in power do to support a hard working student like myself.

I wanted to bring some attention to this problem, and hopefully by doing so, sparking other students to speak up against the wrongs that higher ed has done to them.

Acknowledgement is always the first step for improvement, and I hope higher ed does so, and those who have been hurt by them do the same as well.