Alina Sierra needs $6,316. In 2022, the 22-year-old Tohono O’odham student was accepted to the University of Arizona, her dream school, and excited to become the first in her family to go to college.
Her grandfather used to take her to UArizona’s campus when she was a child, and their excursions could include a stop at the turtle pond, or lunch at the student union. “He’d always tell me: ‘you’re going to be here one day,’ and ever since then I wanted to go.”
Then the financial reality set in. Unable to afford housing either on- or off-campus, she couch-surfed in her first semester. Barely able to pay for meals, she turned to the campus food pantry for hygiene products. “I would get soap one week and then one week get shampoo,” she said. Without reliable access to the internet, health issues, and with a long bus commute, her grades began to slip. She was soon on academ... Read more
