Where’s the money, Glo? The innanet is wondering what’s going on after a Kennesaw State University student claimed she never heard back from GloRilla’s team about a tuition donation. Glo had promised her $5,000, but the money has yet to hit the student’s account!
The student, Vivica Whitehead, shared a video yesterday of the April 17 interaction that quickly went viral.
It had over 680,000 views and garnered various reactions. One user commented, “I hope she really pays for it. I met Lil Baby and he agreed to pay my tuition just for his assistant to ignore my text messages. I texted the assistant from a fake number and he responded.” Another commenter wrote, “Ouuuu = baby, I ain’t got it.”
The student later responded to one user who asked for an update on GloRilla’s offer. She stated that she reached out to Glo’s team the following week after the interaction but had never heard back from the rapper’s team.
“I didn’t hear from them for about a week so I texted, no text back.”
GloRilla’s Team Allegedly Working To Verify Student’s Details
The Shade Room exclusively spoke with a source who told us,
“GloRilla’s team has been working to verify Ms. Whitehead’s school account in order to apply payment.” The source adds, “GloRilla has a heart of gold but never skips steps.”
Several of the Roommates sided with the Memphis native and said that she shouldn’t give Vivica anything for taking her issue to the internet. Peep the comments here.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first time Glo has been called out for allegedly not keeping her word. In December 2022, a choreographer named Trinica Goods alleged that ‘the ‘FNF’ rapper never paid for a five-hour dance lesson.
Trinica said she worked with Glo at an Atlanta-based dance studio in August, and the rapper allegedly agreed to pay $1,500 for the lesson. After the choreographer attempted to retrieve payment, Glo’s team allegedly promised Trinica that she would be paid shortly. However, she was allegedly never compensated.
Deciding to go to a local community college after graduating high school in the Bay Area in 2004 was one of the best, most transformative choices Cecilia Caballera ever made.
When she made the decision, though, it felt like her only choice.
“In high school, I felt an immense amount of anxiety and fear about college and my future,” Caballera, a poet and adjunct professor in the California State University system, told HuffPost.
“My family was very poor, and I felt pressured to continue living at home and work various jobs to help pay the household bills,” she said. “I didn’t even apply to any four-year universities. I truly believed that moving away and attending a ‘real’ college was something that was only available to more privileged people.”
In spite of chatter at her high school about how community college was a second-rate experience, Caballera pressed on and applied to Los Medanos Community College in Pittsburg, California.
“Hearing that contributed to my sense of shame and doubt about not attending a ‘real’ college but I was determined to continue my education in any way, shape or form,” she said. “I knew that community college was the gateway to my future.”
Pushing through those doubts paid off. Thanks to her community college experience and an incredibly supportive counselor at the school, Caballera transferred to UC Berkeley and graduated with honors. After that, she entered a fully-funded PhD program, and in 2022, graduated with a doctoral degree in philosophy from the University of Southern California.
Courtesy of Cecilia Caballero
Cecilia Caballero, a community college grad, believes community colleges “are essential for advancing equity and justice in our public education system.”
“I would not be where I am today without my community college or [connecting with a] Latina community college counselor who understood my challenges and lived experiences, which ultimately changed the entire trajectory of my life,” Caballera said.
She believes that community colleges are invaluable sites of “transformation, empowerment, and social justice” in our communities, especially for working-class, first-generation, BIPOC students.
“Community colleges are essential for advancing equity and justice in our public education system,” Caballera said. “That’s even more true for marginalized student populations: students of color, re-entry students, student parents, system impacted students, and many more.”
Mautra Staley Jones, the president of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) ― the fourth-largest institution of higher education in Oklahoma ― agrees.
“Education is not one-size-fits-all, and community colleges are prepared to meet this challenge by providing an array of programs and services for students regardless of age, background or academic goals,” Staley Jones told HuffPost.
Oklahoma City Community College
“Education is not one-size-fits-all, and community colleges are prepared to meet this challenge by providing an array of programs and services for students regardless of age, background or academic goals,” said Mautra Staley Jones, the president of Oklahoma City Community College, pictured here.
Since the pandemic, news about community college hasn’t been entirely rosy. Transfer rates between community colleges and four-year institutions continued to drop last year ― an ongoing trend since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a March 2023 report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. (On the brighter side, completion rates rose for transfer students.)
For many students, the transfer process is so hard to navigate, it can derail their college plans.
More often than not, what stalls students’ plans is credit loss: The Government Accountability Office estimated that, among students who transfer, about 43% of their college credits don’t end up counting toward a new degree — including private and public schools, as well as two- and four-year schools.
As a result, transfer students take longer to finish their degrees and end up spending more in tuition.
Experts say that both community college and universities can do a better job at communicating what courses students need or don’t need to transfer and get their bachelor’s degree.
Meeting with a transfer advisor early and often can make a huge difference in student success rates, said Staley Jones.
“Community colleges are in the business of promoting student success, whatever the academic end goal might be, which is why we have student success advisors,” she said. “We want to facilitate an easy transfer process for our students.”
Like many community colleges, Staley Jones’ school also has transfer agreements, also known as articulation agreements or 2+2 agreements, in place with many four-year institutions.
“Many schools have relationships in place with businesses and four-year institutions to facilitate students’ career dreams becoming reality,” Staley Jones said.
Despite some of the concerns above, former community college students we spoke to said attending a junior college is still one of the best investments you can make in yourself.
Below, they highlight seven reasons you should consider attending a local community college.
1. They’re affordable.
Let’s start with the obvious: Given the ever-rising cost of tuition elsewhere, you can’t beat the price of an education at a junior college.
“Choosing to attend community college was one of the best financial decisions I ever made due to the affordable tuition,” said Allen Tran, a software engineer in the Bay Area who transferred and graduated debt-free with a bachelor’s degree at San Jose State University.
Tran took advantage of the financial aid program his community college offered, which made it tuition-free and offered a $500 stipend for him to use toward books and school supplies. (He estimates that his tuition without the program would have been around $1,500.)
“I was able to save the money I would have spent my first two years had I gone to a university right off the bat, and use it to pay for the tuition at my university after I transferred,” he told HuffPost. “That completely changed the trajectory of my finances at an early stage in my life. I have that financial freedom.”
Allen Tran, a software engineer who lives in the Bay Area, thinks the affordability factor is the best perk of going to a community college.
Before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles, Odin Contreras, a film student, attended San Bernardino Valley College, where he got an education at a fraction of the cost. Contreras, a Texas native, was paying out-of-state student costs for tuition at first, but once he became a resident of California, he only had to pay $45 a semester. Free of considerable financial stress, he could focus on extracurricular activities, which helped him get into UCLA.
“While I was at SBVC, I had time to join clubs and organizations that assisted me with building an elaborate resume, from being the president of the Dreamers Club to receiving a $20,000 grant to create my own short film on 35mm film,” he said. “I wouldn’t have had the opportunities I had if I had jumped straight into a university.”
2. Community colleges give you access to prestigious universities that might not be an option otherwise.
Tran wasn’t accepted to the schools he’d been dreaming of going to when he applied straight out of high school. His track record at community college opened doors those doors for him, though.
“For instance, I applied to San Jose State University’s CS Program in high school, was rejected, then attended community college, and was finally admitted into SJSU’s transfer class,” he said.
Many community colleges have programs that guarantee university admissions to certain schools based on course requirements. Enrolling in such a program early on was how Tran got into his dream school.
Caballera said she took advantage of a similar program called the Transfer Alliance Program (TAP). It’s a partnership between participating California community colleges and the University of California to give priority consideration to transfer applicants.
“Before meeting with a college counselor, I didn’t even know that the TAP program existed,” Caballera said.
“Moreover, the counselor also encouraged me to apply to UC Berkeley, her alma mater. At the time, I had assumed that I would never be admitted into a prestigious university like UC Berkeley, and I had no intention of even attempting to apply,” she said. “But meeting a fellow Latina who graduated from Cal absolutely blew my mind. If she could do it, I could too.”
3. Community college offers greater flexibility when it comes to schedules and class formats.
Have a weird schedule or need to prioritize work alongside your education? Community colleges are skilled in accommodating a range of needs when it comes to class scheduling and format, Staley Jones said.
“For example, our community college offers online and in-person classes that meet for the length of a traditional semester, and we also offer shorter-term class options that are completed within a few weeks over the summer or throughout the year,” she said.
That flexibility was a major benefit to Caballera when she was attending her two-year school.
“I was able to commute to my local community campus and complete my degree while living at home and working various jobs,” she said. “This flexibility was absolutely critical for me because I was able to arrange my work schedule around the two or three days a week that I was on campus for classes,” she said.
supersizer via Getty Images
Community college offers greater flexibility when it comes to schedules and class formats.
4. You can consider different majors and take different courses without feeling bad about “wasting” money.
Considering being an engineering major but not sure if you’re cut out for the course work long-term? Take a class and see. Because units are cheaper, community college gives you an opportunity to play around with different potential majors and minors, said Diocelina Arellano, a community college grad, and a social media specialist in the transportation and logistics industry.
“I was not sure what I wanted to major in so I was buying myself time to figure it out before I transferred over to a four-year university,” she said. “Besides that, everyone is taking prerequisites for the first two years of college anyway, so you can get that done at community college.”
5. Contrary to what you might think, community colleges offer a sense of community.
Arellano’s other piece of advice? Don’t wait until you transfer to find student-run-clubs or to make friends with like-minded people. Stay active on campus, she said, you don’t have to navigate community college alone. “Join the student government association and clubs at your community college,” she said. “You can still have a student life and sometimes even a better experience since it’s less crowded.”
Valerie de la Rosa, an educator in Los Angeles, California, agreed; the sense of actual community at a community college is an underrated perk.
“If I am being honest, one of the best perks I received from community college is the ability to speak on a variety of topics which has led to making many important connections,” she told HuffPost.
“I grew up in a low-income area and could not afford extracurricular activities,” she explained. “Community college offered me a chance to learn about things I had no exposure to, like art, philosophy and business.”
By the time she transferred to UC Berkeley, she could speak on a variety of topics, which made making friends in high places a whole lot easier.
“I don’t think we talk about it very much but connections and networking are one of the biggest takeaways from major universities,” she said.
xavierarnau via Getty Images
Don’t wait until you transfer to get involved in student groups or make strong connections.
6. The generational diversity is a major perk.
Nolvia Delgado is the executive director of the Kaplan Educational Foundation, a nonprofit public charity that helps underserved, underrepresented community college students transfer to top four-year colleges and universities. She’s also a Dominican-born first-generation college student and a graduate of Borough of Manhattan Community College and Smith College.
Reflecting on her own community college experience, the perk that stands out the most is the diversity of thought in the classroom.
“For example, I vividly remember that in one of my political science classes, one of my classmates worked at city hall, another was a mother of two who was finally close to graduating after multiple attempts, and then there was me ― a ‘traditional’ 19-year-old college student,” she told HuffPost.
That wide range of personal and professional lived experiences fueled the course discussions and broadened our perspectives.
Community college also seems to attract a diverse range of professors.
“Like the students, they also have diverse experiences,” Delgado said. “One of my favorite classes was an Italian class taught by an older Italian woman. In addition to teaching us basic Italian, she exposed us to the cultural differences, similarities to other Romance languages, and common mistakes. Every lesson transported us to Italy.”
FG Trade via Getty Images
There’s students of all ages and experiences at community college, which makes classroom discussion all the more enriching.
7. Because the colleges are smaller, everyone is really rooting for your success.
Whenever Caballera talks to incoming or potential community college students, she reminds them that community college is real college. (That “high school 2.0” stigma still pervades to some degree, unfortunately.)
She also highly encourages students, especially first-generation, working class, students of color, to continually seek help and support from faculty, staff and campus resources, and other students.
“Over time, you will build relationships and community, which means that you don’t have to navigate community college alone,” she said. “If you’re a first-generation, working class student of color, I realize that it can be hard to ask for help. However, just know that there is an abundance of people and programs on campus to help you achieve your educational goals and dreams. They believe in you.”
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona voters have approved an initiative to extend cheaper in-state college tuition to some non-citizen students, cheering supporters who hope the measure’s passage Monday will help spark momentum for wider immigration reform in Congress.
The Associated Press called the race for Proposition 308 after the latest round of vote releases gave it a big enough lead that the AP determined it could not lose. Arizona joins at least 18 other states, including California and Virginia, that offer in-state tuition to all students who otherwise qualify regardless of immigration status.
“This shows there is bipartisan broad consensus about immigration solutions,” Rebecca Shi, executive director of the national American Business Immigration Coalition Action, said earlier in the day, anticipating the proposition’s success.
The measure was referred to the ballot by Arizona’s Legislature and repeals some parts of an earlier initiative that banned in-state tuition for non-citizens. It will allow all students regardless of immigration status to pay in-state college rates as long as they attended Arizona high schools for two years and graduated.
Advocates say tens of thousands of future non-citizen students who have been in Arizona for years could potentially benefit from the proposition in a state where an estimated 275,000 migrants are living without authorization.
The measure will allow qualifying non-citizen students to pay the current in-state undergraduate tuition of $10,978 per academic year at Arizona’s state universities. Those universities do not have a specific rate for non-citizens brought to the U.S. as children, but officials say more than 300 students are currently paying a non-resident rate for Arizona high school graduates that is 150% of in-state costs.
Community college students will also benefit.
The vote is a turnaround from 2006, when Arizona voters rode a widespread wave of anti-immigrant sentiment to bar students who entered the U.S. without authorization from getting in-state tuition and other financial benefits, even if they lived here most of their lives.
A sign in front of some cacti marks one of the entrances to the University of Arizona, in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Epics/Getty Images)
Subsequent years saw other anti-immigrant measures.
The Arizona legislature in 2010 passed the so-called “show me your papers” law that allowed law enforcement officers to to check the immigration status of residents during routine stops. Denounced by activists as racial profiling, the law was partially struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court two years later.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who immigration advocates accused of racial profiling, was later elected out of office and found guilty of misdemeanor contempt of court for ignoring a 2011 court order to stop the patrols. Then-President Donald Trump in 2017 issued a presidential pardon for that conviction.
Although concerns about security along the U.S.-Mexico border remain high in Arizona, advocates say that attitudes have changed somewhat concerning young people brought to the U.S. by their families when they were small children.
Supporters said they now hope approval of the measure will encourage Congress to consider wider immigration reform.
“I’m proud of Arizona and how far we have come,” said Bob Worsely, a retired Republican state legislator and co-chair of the coalition that backed passage of Proposition 308.
Volunteers in recent months knocked on millions of doors and sent out millions of text messages to assure the measure’s passage.
Hazel Villatoro, who attended schools in Arizona her whole life after her parents brought her to the United States from Mexico when she was 1, said Proposition 308 will change her future.
“I will now be able to achieve my dream of becoming an anesthesiologist,” said Villatoro. “I want to thank the voters of Arizona for doing the right thing.”
Many Arizona business owners say it makes sense to make sure the brightest young people remain and seek jobs in the state, whatever their immigration status, especially with worker shortages in some sectors.
“Proposition 308 is not only the right thing, but also the smart thing,” said John Graham, president of Sunbelt Holdings, an Arizona real estate management, investment and development firm, and board chairman of the Arizona State University Foundation.
On other ballot initiatives, Arizona voters rejected one of the three referendums placed on the ballot by Republican state lawmakers that would limit the citizen’s initiative process. The defeated measure would have allowed the Legislature to make changes to voter-approved laws if one part of it was declared to be illegal.
Two others referendums changing the initiative process were called by the AP Monday night. One changes the threshold for tax increases in initiatives to a 60% vote, while the other limits them to a single subject.
Groups that back citizen initiatives say the changes will limit comprehensive measures. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry pushed for the limits after a series of initiatives passed, including a minimum wage increase and a tax on the wealthy to fund education that was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
Arizona voters also approved a referendum creating a lieutenant governor office, but voted down a statewide sales tax increase for fire districts.
Associated Press writer Bob Christie contributed to this report from Phoenix.
ROHNERT PARK, Calif., November 21, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Ameritech Financial is closely monitoring developments in legislation proposed in Texas to help residents pay for higher education. Texas state Senator Judith Zaffirini has authored two bills. The first proposes to pay for community college tuition for students meeting certain conditions. The second, and much more ambitious, bill proposes to give Texans meeting certain conditions, whose annual household income is under $150,000, free tuition to universities. For years, states have squeezed funding for higher education, placing a heavy economic burden on students and families as they pursue higher education. Recently, though, states have noted the economic drag this places on their economies and have made efforts to reduce the strain of student loan debt on borrowers. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company, helps borrowers overwhelmed by student loans apply for and maintain enrollment in federal programs, such as income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), that can possibly lower monthly payments.
“We carefully watch for developments in the student loan industry and are encouraged that states are attempting to build solutions for students and their families,” said Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president. “We seek potential solutions for our clients, acting as a trusted advocate, assisting with the paperwork and navigating the sometimes overly complex processes required by loan servicers. Our goal is to assist our clients in gaining back some financial freedom by helping them apply for federal programs aimed to possibly lower their monthly payment based on income and family size.”
Programs like these can indeed lower costs which can have a dramatic effect on overall student loan debt.
Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial
Texas Senate Bill 33 calls for free tuition to community colleges for Texas residents. Students must have graduated from high school or received an equivalency certificate within the last 12 months. Further, students must be enrolled in an eligible associate degree program or certificate. These students must be enrolled at least part-time and apply for financial aid. Convicted felons and those convicted of certain drug crimes are ineligible. Additionally, students who already have a degree or more than 90 college credits are also ineligible. Students must maintain satisfactory progress and the stipend expires on the third anniversary of the initial disbursement.
The even more ambitious Texas Bill 32 gives residents free tuition to all low- and middle-income students to Texas universities if household income is below $150,000. The bill requires students to apply for financial aid, and the grant then covers any remaining tuition cost. The eligibility requirements are similar to Senate Bill 33, except the program allows students to participate if they have less than 135 credit hours. It also allows a longer period of time for completion, with the stipend ending at the fifth anniversary after the first disbursement.
“Programs like these can indeed lower costs which can have a dramatic effect on overall student loan debt,” said Knickerbocker. “We remain committed to helping individual clients find potential repayment solutions so they can get back to pursuing their dreams.”
About Ameritech Financial
Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.
Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).
Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service.
ROHNERT PARK, Calif., November 18, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– More than 36,000 high school students are concurrently enrolled in college courses, a fifteen percent increase over the previous years. Concurrent enrollment allows students to experience the increased rigors of higher education while also saving on total college cost. The Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) suggests that this will save these students more than $48.7 million in future tuition — and this does not even take into consideration the amount of money that can be saved by graduating a semester or two early. USHE is boasting of this development because the cost of college has become a huge part of a national debate about how to deal with student loan debt. With more than 44 million borrowers owing more than $1.5 trillion, concurrent enrollment can help individuals significantly cut cost and lessen overall debt. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation company, guides borrowers overwhelmed by student loan debt through the process of applying for and maintaining enrollment in federal programs, such income-driven repayment plans (IDRs), which can possibly lower payments based on income and family size.
“It is always encouraging to see students find ways to lessen the financial burden of going to college,” said Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial. “If you have already run into trouble repaying your student loans, we can help you navigate various federal repayment options to help you choose your best option for your circumstances, then assist you in recertification, making sure you are maximizing the benefits available to you.”
It is always encouraging to see students find ways to lessen the financial burden of going to college.
Tom Knickerbocker, Executive Vice President of Ameritech Financial
The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) advocates for high school students to concurrently take college courses because it is a “low-cost, scalable” model to gain college exposure and earn college credit. In concurrent enrollment, high school instructors teach college courses. NACEP suggests that concurrent enrollment helps students transition to college, since 63 percent of colleges report that concurrent enrollment improves the likelihood of being accepted to college.
Since concurrent enrollment is taught by high school teachers, instructors must be certified to teach college-level courses. This requires states to prepare teachers for this certification. USHE recently awarded Dixie State University, in St. George, Utah, a $250,000 grant to increase the number of high school teachers eligible to teach college-level math. The grant includes funding that will go directly to high schools to teach courses, and also to fund a college faculty member who will be a resource for high school teachers who want to teach concurrent enrollment classes.
The concurrent enrollment program began as a small North Carolina program encouraging less than 200 high school students to enroll in college-level courses in 2002. Hundreds of thousands of students across the nation now can save up to $44,000 in tuition expense, drastically cutting tuition and living expenses for students. This dramatically lessens the long-term negative impacts of student loan debt for participating students.
“The depth and impact of the student loan debt crisis is motivating governments and institutions to find solutions for hard-hit students and their families,” said Knickerbocker. “We remain committed to finding individual solutions for each borrower overburdened by student loan debt. We can help with all the paperwork so that you might finally have some reprieve, based on disposable income and family size, from the pressure of high monthly payments.
About Ameritech Financial
Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.
Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).
Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional Customer Service.
