Low income families aren’t permitted to have nice things?
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^^Should some low income families, in effect, use the taxpayers’ money to pay for their iPhone and Nike shoes?
That makes this extra sad.
There are many things in life we don’t want to do or think we should have to do, but we do them anyway because that is how we get the outcomes we want.
I remember the kid the OP is posting about, but now I can’t find the kid’s thread. He said posters didn’t understand how difficult it was to come up with that kind of money. I also remember his saying he couldn’t work because he had to “focus on his studies.”
Summer studies? Not.
I remember this kid, too, but I don’t remember screenname or anything to find the thread.
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Should some low income families, in effect, use the taxpayers' money to pay for their iPhone and Nike shoes? <<<
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this does become a problem, particularly when middle income families who aren’t getting those subsidies cannot afford those items.
We actually used to see that more often with the UC schools before their aid got better. Many of those who were paying the taxes that funded those Cal Grants couldn’t afford to send their own kids to UCs or “away” to school, but those with lower incomes were getting tuition and other costs covered. The UCs finally realized how crazy that was and now offer more aid to those in that bubble …incomes too high for Cal Grants, too low to pay $30k per year.
The issue of using taxpayer money to indirectly pay for luxury items is somewhat similar to the posts here on CC where the families claim to need more aid because they send $$$ abroad to relatives. Schools don’t want to give them more aid because then they (the schools) are effectively supporting those family members abroad.
Certainly every household needs a phone, which is why low income adults can get free “government mobile phones”. They’re not smart phones but they do have “talk and text”. It’s kind of sad to see low income people spending $40+ a month, per person, for several family members to have an expensive smart phone.
This isn’t like purchasing a sturdy piece of furniture that will last for decades. These phones have become almost disposable, yet they’re still very expensive. A low income family spending $120-160 a month for smart phones is spending about $1700 a year on phone service alone. Yikes!
@austinmshauri We are relatively low income and all of my teenagers (one 18, 2 16 year olds) have jobs to pay 100% of the cost of their “nice things”, including their cell phones and monthly plans, fancy sneakers, and most of their clothes. My athlete son also just bought his own cleats for the coming season. My 18-year-old also pays for gas, insurance, and maintenance for his older used car.
How are they using taxpayer money? Is it kind of like how some well-to-do families dump their money into a larger primary residence before their kids start college then wait until after all the kids graduate to liquidate it so they can use the school’s/taxpayer money for college instead of their own? Or is it more like the people who temporarily gift other family members $14k/person per year to hide money so schools will give them need based grants?
Some low income teens work and they’re allowed to spend their money however they want. They can buy new or, if they want to save money, they can look for used Nikes and electronics online, use wifi for phone service, and get name brand clothing at Goodwill or the Salvation Army. Just because they have nice things doesn’t mean they were bought new or with taxpayer money.
Our family makes too much to get need based aid and too little to pay the $20k/year it would cost for our son to dorm at our in-state school, so he’s going to commute. I don’t blame low income families for that. And I don’t blame these kids for not understanding that even a free ride may not cover every little thing because there are too many well meaning GC’s and teachers who are happy to tell them that it will.
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Or how about able-bodied adult parents who decide not to work, knowing that this won’t harm their college-age children, because the children’s financial aid, they know, will be based more on income than on assets and little of the parents’ retirement assets will be seen as available for paying for college?
Wow! I’m so out of it! Do people actually buy larger homes for that purpose? I’m so naive!
Fact sneakers can be bought by relatives or used, or by the kid with a job. Iphones can work on WiFi only, be hand me downs or any number of things, and fyi there are prepaid phone plans that are MUCH less than 1700/year. . The poor people blaming gets so old here.
When I was 18 and supporting myself I did not have a telephone, cable or A/C living in south Florida.
I did wonder about the homeless woman with an iPhone and 2 small children my friend helped last week to find a family shelter. Maybe it was a prepaid gifted hand-me-down wifi only phone.
Maybe it was. Is it really any of anyone’s business?
Our office donates old phones to the battered woman’s shelter.
We do a phone collection drive at our school to do the same thing that ED’s company does. In addition, many people on public assistance now get free limited minutes phones to use (free emergency calls all of the time). Programs like boost mobile will allow you to pay for minutes on your phone. I donate phones because Verizon used to give free phones every 2 years with your contract. If i did not like the phone, I donated the new phone and purchased the phone I wanted. Some people get castoff phones from their family members. You can purchase phones from Walmart, best buy, etc.
An organization in my town funds phones and service for the homeless. If you don’t have a fixed address AND you don’t have a phone/email connection, you are totally screwed. Try setting up a job interview, going to look at an apartment, even switching your appointment with a social worker or probation officer if you don’t have a cell phone. Our public library functions as a de facto communications hub for people who don’t have internet access- the lines for the computer terminals is out the door during business hours with people working hard to better themselves.
It surprises me that in an age where most payphones no longer work there are people begrudging the poor a means of communications.
Try getting a job these days without being able to email someone an application… my company literally has no way to accept a mailed in application or resume since we migrated to an online app system.
Well we used to be eligible for reduced lunch and for a family of 5 that was an income of under $50,000 a year. We make more money now and still don’t have iphones, I just don’t see the the point if a less expensive phone does the trick. We also have prepaid service and only H and D have data (for work and college).
I don’t think getting reduced school lunch gives you enough money savings for iphone snd sneakers. 180 days at $.40 versus $2.10 saves about $300.
But people have different priorities I guess.
I did buy my D good sneakers since she walks a lot on campus and her last sneakers lasted 3 years, so I feel $60 is money well spent.
The reason we don’t have emergency savings is the fact that we still play catch up from the years we made much less.
But my D is working.