Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, definitely. I was always a driven and internally motivated student and expected a lot of myself in terms of grades and achievements. I went to a pretty rigorous middle school, the goal of which was to get into one of the most prestigious specialized high schools in NYC. Once I got in there, the emphasis on grades and achievement became even more pervasive, because of the culture and extremely rigorous curriculum. Pretty much everyone in this high school had their eyes set on one of the top 10 universities in the US and there was never a question in my or my parents’ minds that I would go to college, and that it would likely be one of the top schools in the country. When my parents were getting divorced, my mom included a clause in the settlement that my dad had to contribute to half of my college tuition costs until I turned 21, no matter which college I went to. (My dad had originally only agreed to pay for a state or city school.) I was fortunate to get significant financial aid from my university, which included work study so I worked throughout my four years at school. I also took out $30,000 in federal loans. The rest was paid for by my parents (Dad stopped paying when I was 21). My mom paid for my housing throughout college: dorm for three years and a house shared with five friends for one year.
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