Students asking for free money

[l.a.m.b]

Upon browsing different nursing groups including this one, I have noticed a new trend...current or nursing students to be asking for money via goFundme. Why don't they apply for scholarships or for student loans the way most, if not all of us, did?

I really think its a self entitlement attitude they have, and no, I am not an old fuddy duddy. I worked part to full time to put food on the table whilst putting myself through nursing school with the help of my money, grants, loans and scholarships as I raised my kids. I am 40 years old now, and I EARNED what I have due to my hard work and yes, I did have hardships just like everyone else. But having put myself through school without asking anyone for free money such as goFundme has made me appreciate everything I have even more.

Yes, Scholarships are a form of free money but that required writing essays, gathering documents, putting packets together, rushing them to the post office before the deadlines, only to get turned down multiple times, but so what? Eventually one says yes, and the efforts pay off. But now people don't want to do any work for it and would rather put their face on the web to ask for a free ride?

I find this very annoying and a slap on the face for those of us that struggled, AND made it. I know I am being harsh and it sounds terrible, but I hope these people that ask strangers to fund their education simply by asking for free money fail school because they do not deserve to be nurses. I know many people that had deaths in the family or other crisis happen in their lives and they got through school by working or loans instead of playing victim and mooching off others. This is my opinion.

[Kimberlyace]

I am glad I read this - I am reminded I am not alone in these thoughts! I agree a major life crisis might warrant a need to use the community as a support system. However, since I worked fulltime as a NA/PCT through school.. slaving away on third shift every thursday, friday, and saturday night... it is a slap in the face to have people asking me for money to help them through school. Any life event that can be planned, why not... make a plan?!?

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

I don't donate to those things. I did once-the young girl had a mito disease and was trying to raise money to go to the UK for some experimental treatment. She passed away a couple of weeks after raising about $30,000. Did her husband, who was also on the account refund the money? No. He used it to buy himself a shiny new mustang. And a new girlfriend.

And boom!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I graduated high school in 2000, and contrary to how we may feel, that was a long time ago. The political and fiscal position of this country has changed drastically since then and the amount of "free" aid has dropped significantly. You may have been able to finance your education on low wage employment, but tuition has increased far faster than the rate of inflation for a very long time.

I did not fund my education via low wage employment, although I admit my post was easy to misunderstand because I didn't elaborate. I took out student loans like many others. I worked in the low-wage sector for five years before returning to school.

I have borrowed a total of $32,700 for school. The first $20,000 was borrowed in 2004 and paid off in 2007, and the remainder was borrowed in 2010 and paid off two years ago.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

I say why not.

If i was younger(i am 32) i would find a sugar daddy to fund my Bsn Degree.

I guess i could find one now,but then he would have to be older than 75

Off i go to Sugardaddy.com

I did have a sugar daddy partially fund my lpn schooling,and i was 20 at that time

I have no regrets.

You do realize that a sugar daddy can be considered a form of prostitution and not the same as crowd funding, right? A sugar daddy is a younger female having a companionship relationship with an older father figure male trading companionship, and often sexual relations for cash and gifts.

This takes alternate funding of education to a totally different level.

Some feel crowd sourcing funding as a form of panhandling or begging, others see it as creative financing using social media. Could I use Gofundme to beg for tuition? Probably not. I think this all started a decade or so ago when a college student overextended by credit with thousands of dollars in credit card bills for shipping, meals, trips set up a website begging others to give her a few bucks to pay off her debts. It worked. She felt no shame and ended up with some money to spare and a new industry was born. Whether or not I agree with it is a non issue.

I do take issue with those, like the one poster on the original thread, who claimed that those who donated to her tuition solicitation on gofundme were making a tax deductible charitable contribution (it is not and claiming such without being a 501© charitable organization is nothing less than fraud). If people have money to burn and choose to support others fine but I won't. It's the liars, frauds, and cheats I take issue with.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

I think gofundme accounts, for the most part, are scams to cheat good people out of money.

I don't know who I think less of, the manipulators with their hand out, or the idiots who donate.

[natnat122]

We're in a new era.. nothing wrong with it. If actors/directors can ask for funding for their new movie and receive thousands upon thousands of dollars why not nursing students? More power to them..

[RNperdiem, RN]

This kind of thing lives in a grey zone. Nothing illegal going on but people feel uneasy about it anyway.

A previous poster used the term "unseemly". Good choice of word.

[DeeAngel]

Entitled people will do this as long as people are dumb enough to give them money. These sites are like a scammers wet dream and I believe only a very few are genuine postings when the money will go exactly where they say it will.

[DeeAngel]

Wrong spot

[DeeAngel]

Umm...Why do ya'll care? If there are people who are able and willing to donate money to strangers, education is not a bad reason. I would say before judging so harshly, realize that you never know someone's situation and how hard they actually have been working. Sounds like maybe you all are bitter because there was no GoFundme around when you were in school?...

If people are going to put themselves out there by publicly begging for money then they get to accept the judgement, commenting and opinions that go along with that. What you put out into the world, the world gets to judge you for.

Not all of us need(ed) loans, grants or begging to get through school, we were able to pay cash just fine. It's presumptuous to think that objecting to a mostly scamming website is based on jealousy, when irritation with entitlement would be a better descriptor.

[turtlesRcool]

If I don't want to donate to someone. I just don't. It's really pretty easy. If gofundme really annoys you, why go on the site?

I really can't see how someone else asking for (and getting) money impacts anyone else at all. From my perspective, the only people involved in the transaction are the donor and recipient who have both entered voluntarily into the agreement. I can't see how this is a "slap in the face" to OP or anyone else. It's really no one else's business.

There are plenty of people who go through school for "free" because their parents paid for them. Do those people not deserve to be nurses because they didn't struggle for it? My husband and I plan to pay for our children to go to university, at least a large portion of the cost anyway. We do so because we recognize the value of education, want our children to be able to focus on their studies, and start their careers without massive student debt. Why should I begrudge a stranger-funded education to someone whose parents couldn't/didn't save anything for them? In my mind, the person who is most capable of doing a job is the one who deserves it, so if a person works hard in class, learns the material, and emerges ready to take on an entry-level job in his or her field, then he or she deserves it. And it shouldn't matter who paid for the education.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

If I don't want to donate to someone. I just don't. It's really pretty easy. If gofundme really annoys you, why go on the site?.

We don't have to go to the site. Every so often, a poster, usually brand new never posted before, posts a request and link to their gofundme page. The mods are just pretty good at making them disappear before too many people see them. I believe that was what triggered this thread- and someone's post linked to that now deleted request from a one-time poster.