Allright, I gotta chime in because this Pell grant post just seriously pisses me off. First of all, I got a Pell grant. Now, understand I went to University of Pennsylvania, not a cheap school by any means and I understand that completely. But grants like this made it possible for me to even *dream* of going there. Did I party my four years away and learn nothing? No, I busted my damn a$$ and graduated summa cum laude with two majors because I appreciated that my education was an opportunity I should grab ahold of. What the grants didn't cover I took out in loans myself, or I worked hard to win educational scholarships to help with. When I started life my mother was single with three kids, living in Brooklyn, working hard, and on welfare. (Because my Dad, who is going to vote for Bush not that it is at all relevant, was a complete wastoid and ran the family finances into the ground.) Did my mother twiddle her thumbs and take welfare money as long as she could? Not a chance, she worked damned hard, got the hell out of new york and made a life for herself, and for us three. She worked 10+ hours a day for the last 20 years, never took a vacation, and never bought nice anything for herself. When the letter came saying I was going to be awarded grant money, she was beaming from ear to ear for weeks and telling all her friends. So I don't mind that some of my money goes to helping underpriveleged kids through college.

Now then, since I'm out of school (and fielding a rather hefty set of loans, even considering I was lucky enough to get some grant money) I have a good job and can live a little more comfortably. Don't let yourself think that people who get those grants aren't grateful or that they all waste them of nightclubs. I understand that programs like this made it possible for me to get where I am. There are *far* more people wasting mommy and daddy's money partying at school than there are people wasting their grants.

[black]-"The further we go and older we grow, the more we know, the less we show."[/black]