I have faced many hardships during my higher academic career. Firstly, my freshman year of college was spent online at home due to Covid-19 restrictions. Then finally I made it to campus my sophomore year to only have to return back home less than a month later due to my dad having a freak accident that led to him being paralyzed from shoulder down. After the chaos died down back at home, I reluctantly returned back to campus just to be welcomed back by black mold in my dorm room vents. Even with all of those issues, the top of my list of worries are being able to afford tuition and housing. I will be entering into my junior year as a fulltime student at Howard University. Unfortunately, they’ve increased the cost of attendance this year from an already whopping $53k+ to $60k. Along with this, they also did not guarantee upperclassmen housing. During my scrambling attempt to secure a place to live, the most affordable housing that I found was 25 minutes away from campus, with the rent still being a hefty $1,200/month--excluding other fees. If I earned this scholarship, I would put all of it towards my first month of rent. It would alleviate an immeasurable amount of stress that I've been experiencing because it would give me more time to establish a way to afford living expenses long term, transportation to get to and from campus, as well as the expenses required to earn my bachelor’s degree.