College can create odd separations between family and students. While each student navigates it distinctly, a contradiction arises in the freedom of college financed by parents.
Students feel pressured to conform to their parents’ values because many students’ parents are footing the bill, but college is also a time of self-discovery. This gets more complicated as freedom allows for expression, especially when students discover things about themselves that do not conform to their parents’ values.
One situation some students have to reckon with is their parents’ threatening to cut off — or actually cutting off — financial support because the students come out as LGBT-identifying. Students can be left to either shove themselves into the spotlight for crowdfunding, hide their identities from their parents or legally change their dependency status to separate themselves from their parents in order to get financial aid.
All these are drastic and difficult steps that should not have to be made to continue an education.
For these reasons, UNC should attempt to create scholarship opportunities specifically aimed at helping LGBT students navigating difficulties within the home. No student should be deprived of an education because of the student’s identity.
The University of Missouri at Kansas City fundraises specifically for LGBTQ-hardship scholarships. For its efforts, UMKC has been recognized as an innovative leader in the area. UNC should consider following the school’s example.
Currently at UNC, the LGBTQ Center offers resources for students seeking need-based scholarships, but students who are still technically dependent on their parents will not always qualify for this type of financial aid.
It is important for students whose parents refuse to pay for college (but can afford it) to have access to emergency financial aid as well.
While the scholarships could take many forms, they should be decided by those who know most about the current landscape for LGBT students — perhaps members of or faculty in the LGBTQ Center, working in collaboration with UNC’s financial aid office.
