Am I Going to Be Able To Eat?

Posted Aug 28, 2006 by Adam Emerson

Updated Aug 28, 2006 at 06:23 PM

10:32 a.m.
Rokiesha Dowling walks out of the financial aid office, a little bleary-eyed and frustrated. She has problems.
“This is the time when everybody’s stressed out,” says Dowling, 20, a mass communications major.

She declines to say what her problems are. But inside the financial aid office, others share her misfortune and misery.
The line snakes around the office with students who are waiting for money that may take days to arrive. Some are confused by the dizzying forms placed in their hands by financial aid staff trying to help. “I think ‘D’ here means ‘development,’ but I’m not sure,” one student says.
A nearby room is packed with students, and none of them are smiling. A sign above them reads, “Waiting Room.”
“It’s not as bad as it’s been before,” said Nick Tester,  22, a senior wrapping up his aid needs. He waited about 20 minutes, he says. Leaving, though, he wonders whether he’ll have enough money for food this week.