Degrees Of Desperation: The Working Class Struggle To Pay For College
by Bobbi Dempsey /
2016 / English / Audio
34.2 MB Download
There's a college affordability crisis happening in the US right
now. Tuition rates have soared, while increases in blue collar
wages have slowed to a crawl. This adds up to a painful
realization for lower-income young people desperately hoping to
go to college: there's no way to pay for it. Bobbi Dempsey shares
her brutally honest first-person account of the struggle to pay
for her children's and her own education on a working-class
salary.
There's a college affordability crisis happening in the US right
now. Tuition rates have soared, while increases in blue collar
wages have slowed to a crawl. This adds up to a painful
realization for lower-income young people desperately hoping to
go to college: there's no way to pay for it. Bobbi Dempsey shares
her brutally honest first-person account of the struggle to pay
for her children's and her own education on a working-class
salary.
Growing up in poverty, Dempsey was determined to provide her
children with an education to help them escape the family cycle.
While trying to get their three children through school, she and
her husband each worked several jobs (which often involved dirty
and sometimes even dangerous conditions) and went into a panic
every time another tuition bill arrived. Growing increasingly
desperate, they made some decisions that put their financial
future in jeopardy and even resorted to strategies such as
collecting aluminum cans to pay for textbooks. Mixing memoir with
bits of valuable advice, Bobbi Dempsey takes you inside the
emotional and stressful reality for a blue-collar family facing
the struggle of paying for college.
Growing up in poverty, Dempsey was determined to provide her
children with an education to help them escape the family cycle.
While trying to get their three children through school, she and
her husband each worked several jobs (which often involved dirty
and sometimes even dangerous conditions) and went into a panic
every time another tuition bill arrived. Growing increasingly
desperate, they made some decisions that put their financial
future in jeopardy and even resorted to strategies such as
collecting aluminum cans to pay for textbooks. Mixing memoir with
bits of valuable advice, Bobbi Dempsey takes you inside the
emotional and stressful reality for a blue-collar family facing
the struggle of paying for college.
Bobbi Dempsey is a writer specializing in money (or the lack
thereof), but she greatly enjoys talking to people from all walks
of life and sharing their stories. Her work has appeared in
Bobbi Dempsey is a writer specializing in money (or the lack
thereof), but she greatly enjoys talking to people from all walks
of life and sharing their stories. Her work has appeared inThe NY Times
The NY Times,
,Family Circle
Family Circle, and other major
publications. She also created a website called BrokeParents.com
to share news, advice, and tips of interest to working-class
families struggling with tight budgets. She copes with the
stresses of life by indulging in her two not-so-secret vices: bad
reality TV and awesomely bad 80s pop culture.
, and other major
publications. She also created a website called BrokeParents.com
to share news, advice, and tips of interest to working-class
families struggling with tight budgets. She copes with the
stresses of life by indulging in her two not-so-secret vices: bad
reality TV and awesomely bad 80s pop culture.