Show Me The Money! Annie's Cry

*If I go off during this post...plz forgive me*

Well in lue of recent events with the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. I am now faced with yet another devastating situation that has left me broken hearted and pissed off all at the time:(

*Breathe Dee*

Okay so my youngin girlfriend Antonea whom I affectionately refer to as "Annie" posted something on her blog that broke my heart and got me to thinking. www.atfty.blogspot.com Why is it that when some people have children, they don't start working on their son or daughters educational futures at day one? I mean why do they wait until their son or daughter has graduated highschool to start finding financial assistance for their child to attend college?

I mean I know some parents who right now are struggling to put their child through college and are scrambling around grabbing at every possible resource in order for them to pay for 1 semester of college. (I hope I don't offend someone) See I have seen this too many times in the past. The parent fusses at the child to stay in school and get good grades so that he/she will be able to attend a good college, so that they might have a better life then what mommy and daddy have. Okay so said child goes to school everyday, gets the good grades and time comes for him/her to graduate. They come up to their parents and say "mom...dad..I did what you said. I went to school and kept my grades up and now I am ready to go to college so i can make a better life for myself like you said I would." So what do some parents say to the child "We're sorry lil bobby/betty. We can't afford to send you to college right now. We didn't prepare for this day like we told you to do or like we should have done. Sorry sweetie." Sucks right?

Why do we do this to our children?....*Sorry ya'll.................give me a minute here*

As a former teacher I have such a love for children and their well being. It hurts me to know that the ppl who were chosen to take care of and look out for these children are not doing so through preparation for college. *whew I'm sorry folks I can't hold back the tears* I'm not saying that these parents are bad parents, I'm just asking why don't we think about these things early on.

My girl Annie is 19 years old and if/when you read her story, you will see she did what she was supposed to do and got accepted to Fisk University on what she thought was a full scholarship. Well that was not the case and now she is back in Chicago trying to get into Columbia and is having financial woos there as well. I know some of you might say "there is grant money out there and what about student loans." well she has tried that and we are still filling out applications for money so that she will be able to attend the college of her choice. Now this girl has a 3.7 gpa and has her head on straight. I hope and pray that she will not get discouraged and give up going to college all together. Iv'e seen that happen as well.

I have been talking to some ppl that I know who have children and I have been trying to convince them that they should start some type of college fund now so they can avoid this type of sitch later on down the line. One of my friends who I wrote about (read: That's it I'm Outta Here" July) is too concerned with her own issues that she won't even get up and apply for the jobs I tell her about, and she has 6 kids...wtf? We can buy and do everything else, but we don't think to invest in our child's(rens) future...D*mn!

This is why I am emotional ppl. The children can't do it...we have to do it for them. My sister is doing it and she is a SINGLE MOM...so it can be done.

I wish like h*ll I could help this youngin go to school...I really do. All I can do is PRAY...WILL YA'LL DO THE SAME:)