Jamie-Lee Josselyn: Bush reduces aid to college students

It's hard to go anywhere these days without hearing about how important this year's presidential election is. Voter registration applications are everywhere -- in front of the Penn Bookstore, in coffee shops downtown and in campus hubs like the Kelly Writers House. Penn's homepage is plastered with the message "Register and Vote!" and President Amy Gutmann has made it a top priority to promote active political engagement on campus. With all this encouragement, it would be hard not to follow the election, at least to some degree.

In my time at Penn, I've met very few politically apathetic people. Most Penn students have political inclinations of some sort, and at least in the crowds I run with, Penn students are fairly liberal. Sure, there's the conservative influence of Wharton, but we all have our flaws, right? The thing is, most of the Penn kids I know are supporting John Kerry for ideological reasons -- they're against the war in Iraq, they are fed up with the number of jobs that have been lost during the Bush administration and they believe the tax burden should be shifted away from lower-income individuals. These are all completely valid reasons to be voting for Kerry (or against Bush, depending on how you look at it) this year. But the truth is, not too many Penn students are making this decision based on how the next president will directly affect their own lives.

For me, my decision to support John Kerry was based primarily on personal reasons. I am financially independent. I am lucky enough to receive generous financial aid from Penn, which covers the vast majority of my tuition expenses. Still, I scramble to pay my rent every month and my grocery list usually includes little more than peanut butter, grape jelly (Did you know that strawberry is almost a dollar more than grape?!) and Diet Coke. A lot of us here put ourselves into the "poor college student" category, but for some of us, it's really true. There's no bank account linked to Mom and Dad. There are no checks that come in the mail every few weeks.

In a way, I'm glad I'm in this situation. I've learned how to support myself. But I've also seen how a presidential administration can affect people like me. In addition to the money I earned from my summer jobs and my current work-study job, I'm currently using an Americorps Educational Award to pay for my Penn expenses. Two years ago, I committed myself to 900 hours of community-based work through the Bonner Leaders Program. Less than six months after I joined the program, the Americorps budget was frozen by the U.S. government when the Bush administration decided to "shock and awe" the world. Without the money from the Bonner program, I'm not sure that I'd be able to finish my senior year here.

Unfortunately, the Americorps money does not cover everything. Any day now, I will be charged for Penn's Student Insurance Plan. The premium has gone up significantly since last year. Plus, the plan isn't even that good. With all the loopholes, I've been charged hundreds of dollars for simple misunderstandings -- most notably, my freshman year when I had to pay full price for a routine procedure because I got a verbal referral from Student Health, not a written one. That's another thing about being on your own financially -- you have to learn these things the hard way with no safety net. My vote for John Kerry will bring us one step closer to a national health care plan, which will help people in my position, and more importantly, those who currently have no health insurance whatsoever.

While I can apply these few points to my own situation, I realize that there are so many people who need a change in administration far more than I do. In the time I spent working toward that Americorps grant, I saw how elementary and middle schools in West Philadelphia have been left behind. I, along with other Penn tutors, walked kids home to shelters after school. At the Ronald McDonald House, I met families whose medical expense woes went far beyond a misunderstood insurance referral. Yes, my vote for John Kerry will ensure that other people my age can get some extra cash for school and not have to worry about the rising cost of insurance premiums. But, like those here at Penn who don't share my financial anxiety, my vote for John Kerry will not just benefit myself, but our entire community.

Jamie-Lee Josselyn is a senior English and French major from Epping, New Hampshire. Constant Gratification appears online over the weekend.

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