College Student Begs for and Receives Tuition Payment Donation from Alumni (wisdom, solution)
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People have used the internet to solicite donations for themselves before. I saw this being done on the website of a private Christian college several years ago. If it works then it's honorable. She will have no debt, and that's a good thing since she places no burdon on society. And the person/people donating feel good. Win-win.
An alumni viewed the video and paid her balance. Charity is great, but don't think there is any honor in soliciting handouts.
Geeez. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. If she was on welfare you would be saying she was just another lazy welfare queen living off of the taxpayer. Obviously that isn't her intent and clearly wants to be a productive individual and asked for help to keep her on her path.
Soliciting handouts? When applying for a grant or aid isn't that basically asking for a handout? Isn't that a form of charity?
Some very kind person stepped forward and I'm sure the donated money was paid directly to the college.
She's worked hard to get where she is and I wish her the very best.
Long-time Seattle residents will no doubt remember this: Back during the dot-com days, there was a kid who would stand at the off ramp for 45th Street in Seattle (the exit to get to UW). He'd hold up a sign asking for money to pay tuition for a comp sci degree because he had no money but his parents made too much for him to qualify for anything. At the end of every term, he'd wear this big sandwich board for a few days with a blown up copy of his report card. When he finally graduated, he spent a couple of weeks on that same intersection wearing a cap & gown along with a sign thanking everybody for putting him through school, and a blown up check made out to some scholarship group for something like 11 grand - the overage between what he was given over 4 years and what he needed. If I remember correctly, Amazon gave him a job right out of school.
I had absolutely no problem with this. That kid was like a community public works project. I probably gave him a couple hundred bucks myself. I'm all for putting in for the cause if there's going to be some sort of return on investment. That said, I'm not sure I see the wisdom in paying for someone to receive a degree in art - they were already qualified for the job at Pottery Barn that they're going to get after graduation before they even started school.
An alumni viewed the video and paid her balance. Charity is great, but don't think there is any honor in soliciting handouts.
And?
What you think doesn't really matter to or affect this.
You think you get to decide what people want to do with their money?
Do you take tax credits? I guess there's no honor in you soliciting handouts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xanathos
That said, I'm not sure I see the wisdom in paying for someone to receive a degree in art - they were already qualified for the job at Pottery Barn that they're going to get after graduation before they even started school.
Apparently you're disagreed with.
Art historians, museum curators, appraisers, etc. are not Pottery Barn employees.
Is education simply a way to make a buck for you?
Sad statement if true.
I'm good with this. Asking for donations for a worthy reason and following up on that reason isn't a bad thing. This isn't like standing on a street corner simply because you are too lazy to do anything else with your life.
An alumni viewed the video and paid her balance. Charity is great, but don't think there is any honor in soliciting handouts.
Why would you have a problem with this?
I actually think it was an inventive solution.
I think someone else already pointed out, that she may need to pay taxes on it. I think the first $10,000.00 can be written off as a gift, but anything after that is considered taxable income.
Quote:
Hill said she plans to post a new video explaining her bill has been paid but would like to put additional money in a fund for others. She said she receives about $50,000 a year in financial aid, leaving a balance of about $4,000 a semester.
Since it appears that she didn't receive over 10K then it should not be a problem, and if she uses any additional funds to help others, she sounds like a good person! I am glad that people like her are in school and that her story is out there for others to read, and see that not everyone is out trying to game the system.
I hope she understands that those "donations" count as income and that she needs to declare and withhold some of those funds herself for taxes.
She might need to declare it as income but she definitely doesn't need to withhold any. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is $2,500, and her balance was $2,800. Chances are she's in the 10% tax bracket IF that at all (she probably makes less than the personal exemption+deduction) so she wouldn't need to withhold anything.
If she's already receiving $50K a year in Federal aid and still needs an additional $8K a year to cover her tuition, I think it's a safe bet that she should have chosen a cheaper school. It's basically the same as going out to buy a car or a house. If you're only approved for a certain amount for a loan, you don't go above and beyond that amount and then ask for additional assistance to meet the amount. You stay within your means.
And, $50K in loans is nothing to is scoff at, that's a nice chunk of change and would cover an education at numerous schools. Why would she pick a school that she's not financially capable of attending.
This is one of the major problems in our society, the sense of entitlement. Kids think that they deserve to go to these schools on tax payers money even whent that money isn't enough to cover the costs.
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