Navigating Valentine’s Day as a broke college student

as the only gift he is concerned about is his mother’s birthday which coincidentally falls on Valentine’s Day.

The FAFSA is here to provide numerous financial aid opportunities for high and low-income students across the nation.

Applying for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a great way to qualify for financial aid through things like work-study positions or federal grants. With the price of college growing steadily over time, knowing where to go in order to seize the chance to reduce the cost of education is important.

Consulting someone like a counselor on campus who specializes in financial service is one of the best ways to start a FAFSA journey. TCC has dedicated financial aid offices with their own unique contact information available to all students.

“It’s [FAFSA] definitely important, and although some may not need it – it’s still very useful,” TCC financial aid representative Angelleana said.

Despite the handful of financial benefits, there seems to be a lack of information about it making the rounds. Not very many students know what the FAFSA specifically is or what it offers.

Connect student Alexie Uribe said she is vaguely familiar with what the FAFSA is, but not yet familiar with what exactly it can provide.

“I am aware of it in general, but I do not really know the details of how it works and how to get it,” she said. While detailed information about financial aid isn’t quite as widespread on campus as it could be, Uribe still believed that it is valuable to college students.

“Higher education is important and not everyone can afford it,” she said. “It allows more people to have more opportunities.”

Connect student Caleb Wallen See FASFA, page 2

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, TCC students have weighed in their opinions on the day of love.

Initially, Valentine’s Day was created to honor Saint Valentine, the patron saint of love. The holiday has since evolved to celebrate love in its entirety. SE student Brendan Wilkins believed the holiday was a proper way to celebrate love.

“I think it’s a nice way to show appreciation to the person you love,” Wilkins said. “There’s a holiday for literally everything so it only makes sense for there to be one for relationships.”

In recent decades however, some feel that the holiday has commercialized. With corporations such as Hallmark and Hershe capitalizing on the holiday to sell romantic cards and chocolates respectively, many felt the holiday has lost its meaning, including NE student Jason Glover.

“I think it’s a glorified holiday,” Glover said. “Because when you think about it, Valentine’s Day is supposed to be a time where you spend with loved ones, and it’s been glorified to where everyone has to spend tons of money or else you don’t love your significant other.”

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans plan to spend $26 billion this year for Valentine’s Day. $2 billion more than in 2022.

Despite the statistic, the pressure to spend excessive amounts of money has never fazed Glover

Glover finds compromise on spending on a significant other with mutually budgeting $20 for Valentine’s Day and purchasing pricier gifts on birthdays.

“I feel no pressure whatsoever,” Glover said. “The only thing I do is buy a birthday gift. Whenever I am dating someone, I do buy a Valentine’s Day gift. But, it’s not gonna be an exuberant amount.”

For those not looking to break the bank or who prefer a more sentimental touch, many websites have articles dedicated to DIY gifts — such as date coupons or origami flowers. A student who requested to remain anonymous contended that creating homemade gifts for a significant other has more sentimental value than a purchase.

“It just shows you put the time and effort into that person rather than just buy and say ‘here you go,’” the student said. “I like to know the person put effort into our relationship.”

And if all fails, be creative and don’t resort to the box of chocolates.

“What is overdone on Valentine’s Day is the box of chocolates,” the student said. “The roses are overplayed, but I would rather accept that than the chocolates.”

Though not in a relationship, Wilkins has instead decided to designate the day of love for selfcare.

“For this upcoming one, I want to take myself out for a ‘me day’ so I’ll probably have a big budget,” Wilkins said.

“Things just kind of amped up a little bit more for the Metroplex there Monday morning,” Driver said. “As soon as that became apparent then it was quick to have the winter weather team get together, review the information and see what’s going on. Then find out from our community partners and then let’s not waste any time and have conditions you know get worse for us.”

The report on Monday came out at 8:30 a.m., Driver said. Afterwards, the team met up and went over the data to determine if the school would be closing down. He said this was a difficult situation, especially choosing the timing, because there were already students and teachers on campus for classes and they were anticipating more coming in for midday classes, as well.

“So when is the best time? You really just don’t have a best time to say, ‘Now we’re going to close,’ it’s so many different moving elements there,” he said.

NE student Jadha Ragland said TCC didn’t respond quickly enough. As a student worker she would have to be on campus by 8 a.m., and when she looked at the conditions Monday morning, she could already tell that most roads wouldn’t be safe to travel on and had noticed most schools had already closed.

“It was disappointing because I imagine there are a lot of students who don’t have the resources to make an unnecessary trip to campus, myself included,” she said.

NE student Bronwyn Beasley shared this sentiment and said on Monday morning she had already chosen to stay home because she thought that’d be the safest for her.

“But if I had attempted to travel for class and then had to turn back around, I would’ve been very disappointed and in danger of the hundreds of students simultaneously leaving campus,” Beasley said.

Ragland said that she was worried about the road conditions in her neighborhood and how it would affect her family, specifically her husband whose work didn’t close on Monday or Thursday that week.

“I was highly concerned because he works from 3 p.m. to roughly 3 a.m., which is the coldest time, and ice is less visible in the dark,” she said. “It made me realize how companies will quickly replace you in case of significant injury or death.”

Driver said that the Fort Worth office of the weather service has been a great help in situations like these, and the tools they provide as well as the reports and conference calls were essential in ensuring the TCC community was safe and informed during the storm.

“The number one factor is the safety of our students, faculty and staff if they’re going to have to leave their homes and then come into campus,” he said. “So that really is the number one decision for us as to what we do. But you know there are just so many different factors that we look at.” said “I think it [FAFSA] is very important due to the rising costs of education,” Wallen said. “It has become a necessity for the majority of students to pay for school on their own.”

When asked whether or not she thinks enough students know about the FAFSA, Uribe said, “No, not really. I think they may know a little bit about it, but not enough to avenues colleges and financial aid services could take to nudge students in the right direction in an unintrusive way.

“I think campuses could advertise better by creating a link for it in Canvas or in Web Advisor that is clear to see and easily accessible,” he said.

Angelleana said there are flyers strung up across TCC campuses to help point students in the right direction, but she believed the best way to spread the word is simply by word of mouth. She said a good place to start looking for more information is on the Tarrant County College webpage or the Federal Student Aid webpage.

“One of the best ways is for students to talk to each other,” Angelleana said.