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To pay for school, one undergrad makes a fateful decision.
Alejandra Bautista-Landin
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Tess Vigeland: Today we continue a series of commentaries we're calling "My Life is True." It's a look at folks living at the hard edge of the economy. Oakland resident Alejandra Bautista-Landin was once a promising undergrad with dreams of law school. Then she made a decision that would forever change her life.
Alejandra Bautista-Landin: I had way too much going on. I was in a folkloric dance troupe, working at Rite Aid and manning a health hotline. I thought lots of extra-curriculars would get me into a good law school. But my grades started to suffer; I was put on academic probation and my financial aid was suspended.
I wasn't able to ask for help. I wanted to fix my problems secretly without disappointing anybody, so I robbed a bank.
I still ask myself how I got the idea. I was desperate. I thought, "no one will know." I'll never speak of it. It'll be just one time and I'll just move forward.
I walked in and gave the teller a note. Some of what you see in the movies is true. Tellers are supposed to acquiesce to whatever you ask. I got a few thousand dollars and it all went to pay for school. I thought, "Let me just try this one more time, so I can pay off a little more debt."
It didn't work: a judge sentenced me to 30 months in prison. I put on a brave face, but I was frightened.
When I got out, I was assigned to a halfway house near Lake Merritt. I loved walking around the lake and just looking at people. It made me feel normal again. One day I saw a guy from the halfway house wearing a polo shirt that said "Healthy Oakland." He said the place helps people get back on their feet, get health insurance, see a doctor, or find a place to live.
I started volunteering there. After a month, they offered me a job. I help whomever comes in. Some are homeless; others are just out of prison. I tell them that I was there, too. They always say, "You don't look like you were in prison." I say, "You don't either."
We're seeing more professionals now who can't afford health insurance and lots of long-term unemployed. Our waiting area is always full. Most of the day I sit down with folks. I listen to what's going on with them and try to help. It's an unbelievable privilege to have someone trust me enough to say they need help -- the kind of help I once needed... but couldn't ask for.
Vigeland:Alejandra's story comes to us from "My Life Is True," a reporting project of the New America Foundation. Tell us what you think -- write to us.
This commentary first aired on KQED in San Francisco.
More than a third of all college students are over the age of 25, and they go back to school for all sorts of reasons: to hone their career goals, to launch entirely new and different careers or simply to immerse themselves in a field of study that makes them happy. All of those are worthy objectives, of course – but the specter of assuming thousands of dollars of student-loan debt a little bit later in life is enough to make any adult a wee bit nervous.
http://speedyloansearch.com/
Really? We feel sand for this poor little college student? I have been in such dire straights I didn't have electricty! couldn't by groceries, or pay for gas and I soldiered on and did not commit a crime. She robbed a bank to pay for a choice of higher education?? iI have worked my ass off to go to school and work full time . You lost you financial aide and robbed a bank. How about you suck it up and get your grades up, how about you get another job, take fewer classes and give up some of your extra curicular activities. She is a criminal, and I agree with Rochelle this is a result of our new you can everything, you all get a trophey(even if you suck) , and you don't need to work hard for anything, ask the government for it! Come on people how about you learn that we don't need to be taken care of by the government cradel to grave! Step up! work hard! and if you don't want to provide for your self and your family, then you suffer through it , its your choice!
I can understand completely how Alejandra lost her perspective and felt that her only option was to rob a bank. I, too, have felt the same thing. In 2000, with a failing business and a house close to foreclosure, a wife who was addicted to drugs and spending, and a new baby, I robbed a bank. Like Alejandra I also felt alone, that there was nobody I could ask for help. I was sent to federal prison, and then a halfway house. In my travels through the Federal Prison system, I have spoken in depth to over 30 bank robbers. Through this, and my own experiences, on thing has become very clear to me: untreated depression is a factor in almost every robbery. Depression robs one of perspective. I use the analogy of an hour glass: the grains fall through one by one, imperceptibly. However, come back some time later, and everything that was in the top of the glass is now on the bottom. It took me a stint in prison for me to face my depression, and learn how to ask for and accept help. Now, I have volunteered in jails, have joined the Board of Directors of a halfway house, and I teach theatre at a university. The experience has also made me a much better father. Alejandra has also turned her life around, and unless one has walked the proverbial mile in her shoes, I don't think it is fair to say she robbed a bank to "get what you want". Congratulations Alejandra for having the courage to go public and quite possibly helping some other poor soul from doing the same thing!
Here's a new word , empathy. Our youth that choose to pursue a higher education face a myriad of decisions to make as early as their sophomore year in high school. It's no longer just good grades but activities, community service. Once in it's how to pay for it. On top of that what field of study to be passionate about tempered by will it pay the bills. All of this while studying and trying to keep up a decent gpa.
If you think that Alejandra doesn't mull over and over, with regret, the decision she made, then please sign up for a remedial empathy course. when cornered with difficult decisions we fumble sometimes. In spite of the consequences , you found a way to give back. Alejandra, thanks for doing so and I wish you well. All I can tell you is that it does get better. But you have shown that to us already.
As for Rochelle w, consider a part time at rite aid, and give those proceeds to a fund to help needy college students . That could be your way to give back.
Well, speaking as someone who paid my way through college, because I chose not to get financial aide; I worked 2 part time jobs, while raising a family, volunteering at an animal shelter, volunteering at a Nursing Home, and was keeping my grades up, I think I have every right to speak on the subject of not having the money for life, but not doing something illegal to gain the money. Here is a new phrase, Work Ethic. Right now, I have a son going to college and HE even thought this person was way out of line. There is no need for empathy, there is a lesson to be learned. Learn how the world works, then legally do something about it. That means don't become a thief, that means you drop the extra curricular activities and bust your butt more. If you don't get into an Ivy league school, then so be it. It ain't gonna kill ya. Learn to deal with life. Don't make excuses and take the easy road. That is just plain ignorant and arrogant to think you will get away with it. Because, you have to remember, people who steal, don't pay their bills, don't get insurance, etc. etc. etc., make it more expensive on the rest of us who DO. We are also the ones who make the economy run, because we spend money not steal it.
Where is the social connect here? I mean, a student who wants to go to law school that robs a bank? I'm sorry, I am just flabergasted at the fact that one would even fathom to think that was even an option. You couldn't have given up the health line? or the folkloric dance troup? Cut back on either of them and pick up more shifts at the Rite Aid?
It seems to me that you decided to act as Veruca Salt did in Willy Wonka. I want it and I want it now! This is a major problem with the youth of today. You can talk on social all you want, but can't ask for help? I don't get it. I just see it as an easy way to "get what you want."
