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snowy · 08-28-2005, 06:13 AM

Don't get me started on abuses of public assistance. Students who qualify for work-study also automatically qualify for food stamps. For those of you who don't know, work-study is the easiest section of financial aid to qualify for. I've seen so many students abuse food stamps when 1) they didn't need them (they were/are making plenty of money from work-study or parental assistance), 2) they go to the grocery store and use the stamps to buy all the mixers for a party, 3) they use the food stamps to buy groceries for other people because they're getting so much in assistance. Some people get like $100 a person. I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't eat $100 in food a month.

Recently my roommate told me that her next roomie, who's moving in in a few weeks, asked her to get food stamps. Because my roommate is on work-study, she qualifies. My roommate makes plenty of money and gets a good chunk of financial aid, but her future roommate has very little money. I told roomie if new roomie wants food stamps, she should go get them herself and not expect a free handout from roomie. Furthermore, I told roomie that people using food stamps who obviously don't need them really pisses me off. There are people out there who DO need assistance, and they have a harder time getting it than students on work-study who may or may not need the assistance. For instance, I had a friend that because his parents made too much money (though they weren't giving any to him) didn't qualify for work-study. Thus no food stamps--but he was so poor he had to end up going to the food bank on a regular basis. AND he was working a regular job on top of going to school full-time and serving in the Army Reserve.

To me, I understand why we have public assistance, but I think too many people abuse the system, and too many people raise their children to abuse the system. The system is there as a safety net and a temporary crutch, not a walker or wheelchair. Please.

08-28-2005, 06:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
snowy Kick Ass Kunoichi Location: Oregon	Don't get me started on abuses of public assistance. Students who qualify for work-study also automatically qualify for food stamps. For those of you who don't know, work-study is the easiest section of financial aid to qualify for. I've seen so many students abuse food stamps when 1) they didn't need them (they were/are making plenty of money from work-study or parental assistance), 2) they go to the grocery store and use the stamps to buy all the mixers for a party, 3) they use the food stamps to buy groceries for other people because they're getting so much in assistance. Some people get like $100 a person. I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't eat $100 in food a month. Recently my roommate told me that her next roomie, who's moving in in a few weeks, asked her to get food stamps. Because my roommate is on work-study, she qualifies. My roommate makes plenty of money and gets a good chunk of financial aid, but her future roommate has very little money. I told roomie if new roomie wants food stamps, she should go get them herself and not expect a free handout from roomie. Furthermore, I told roomie that people using food stamps who obviously don't need them really pisses me off. There are people out there who DO need assistance, and they have a harder time getting it than students on work-study who may or may not need the assistance. For instance, I had a friend that because his parents made too much money (though they weren't giving any to him) didn't qualify for work-study. Thus no food stamps--but he was so poor he had to end up going to the food bank on a regular basis. AND he was working a regular job on top of going to school full-time and serving in the Army Reserve. To me, I understand why we have public assistance, but I think too many people abuse the system, and too many people raise their children to abuse the system. The system is there as a safety net and a temporary crutch, not a walker or wheelchair. Please. __________________ If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau