| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 501 | Ekin Dogus Cubuk | student. |
| 502 | Yancy Liao | student. |
| 503 | Emily Leach | |
| 504 | Rebecca Wright | student. |
| 505 | James Beall | student. |
| 506 | Jong Hsien Lim | student. |
| 507 | Kazuo Uyehara | student. |
| 508 | Gabriel Ramirez | student. |
| 509 | Xavier Williams | student. |
| 510 | Lynwood Jiang | student. |
| 511 | Daniel Yang | student. |
| 512 | Nemo Swift | student. |
| 513 | Derrick "Donkey Kong" Kao | student. |
| 514 | Cynthia Halpern | Faculty, Professor of Political Science/Public Policy. |
| 515 | Maia Gerlinger | Student |
| 516 | James Robinson | Student |
| 517 | Alexander Kang | Student |
| 518 | Ester lee | Student |
| 519 | Anna Phillips | Student |
| 520 | Jonathon Leung | Student |
| 521 | Andy Eisenlow | Student |
| 522 | Celesta Abou Negm | Student |
| 523 | Daisy Yuhas | Student |
| 524 | Scott Taylor | Student |
| 525 | Stephan Lefebvre | Student |
| 526 | Ben Yelsey | Student |
| 527 | Dan Hwang | Student |
| 528 | Toby Heavenrich | Student |
| 529 | Rodrigo Luger | Student |
| 530 | David Armstrong | Student, with a friend who had to leave Swarthmore after her sophomore year because her financial aid got cut. |
| 531 | Multi | We fully support your cause! |
| 532 | Heather Hightower | Student |
| 533 | Anonymous | |
| 534 | Shameika Black | Student on Aid |
| 535 | Randall Keith Benjamin, II | |
| 536 | Jung Kim | |
| 537 | Kae Kalwaic | |
| 538 | Sarah Roberts | |
| 539 | Elena Smith | |
| 540 | Kristen Shonborn | Student |
| 541 | Emilia Thurber | student |
| 542 | Swarthmore Womyn of Color Collective | Student Group |
| 543 | Kiss My Sass Radio | |
| 544 | Class Activists | Student Group-- Hosts Class Awareness Month |
| 545 | Kylah Field | |
| 546 | Jakob Mrozewski | |
| 547 | Swarthmore African-American Student Society | As representatives of the Black Community, we feel issues of financial aid are crucial to our community’s well being. This problem affects students of color disproportionately. Black students are encouraged to be SMORE’s and MRI’s, but it puts us in an awkward position when we are supposed to encourage black students to come to Swarthmore under false pretenses. We are also addressing this issue because we take great concern with the black retention rate. Even though it is ostensibly 100%, we worry about how long it is taking our black students to graduate due to financial reasons. Once black students are here, there is not enough of an initiative to keep them if they face financial hardship.
When you look at the number of students who take more than four years to graduate, there is a disproportionate amount of black students. In addition, too many black students transfer. Both of these statistics are related to financial aid. Swarthmore cannot afford to lose such a large number of its students of color. The College appears to have no vested interest in retaining students of color. Black students are being encouraged to go elsewhere by the administration, but the financial aid office should be helping them to find ways to continue their education at Swarthmore. We feel as though we don’t have representatives or agents within the administration who listen to our voices and fight on our behalf, specifically regarding issues of financial injustice.
We suggest a more honest flow of communication—open conversation and disambiguous information. Financial aid policies should be both easily accessible and straightforward. Although the financial aid office states that information is available, there should be increased interaction between the office and Swarthmore’s students and families. We are also calling for greater oversight in the financial aid process. Checks and balances could ensure that final decisions on financial aid are made through a more collective process. Lastly, we think that there should be an appointed position in the Financial Aid Office in which someone works particularly with students, helping them to apply for outside grants when they do not qualify for financial aid.
Thus, as a group whose mission is to support black students on campus, we, the Swarthmore African American Student Society, fully support and sign this petition for financial justice. |
| 548 | Michael Edmiston | I worked out that it costs me five dollars AN HOUR to be here. |
| 549 | Alex Burka | |
| 550 | Ghulam Vajid | Having 3 kids in college and draining out my savings account., maxing out on equity line and renting my home and moving into smaller condo with lower rent . So that I can finish my daughter in
swarthmore and still being proud father. |