This is some of what I did today: my current fight with my son’s school (Portland State University)
December 21, 2022 – Wednesday
Today I wrote this letter to my son’s school (PSU) because they are unable to award him the full tuition scholarship that he otherwise would qualify for – due to bureaucratic restrictions in their scholarship policy. Their policy (as it stands) arbitrarily has conditions which make it impossible for Avi to qualify for their full tuition scholarship (a scholarship otherwise granted to all fully matriculated PSU students who are long-term residents of Portland and who qualify for FAFSA support). Specifically Avi is disqualified from getting a full tuition scholarship because of limitations he has due to his brain injury that make it impossible for him to meet the minimum credit hour requirements to receive the scholarship. We have been trying to get the school’s assistance with this for over a year now, and I’m mad (every now and then I get really mad – and it usually has to do with discrimination in the education system in Oregon and fighting for Avi’s right to a FREE APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION [FAPE].)
Re: Subject: Re: URGENT: PSU’s Discriminatory Scholarship Policy (Discriminating Against Students With Specific Disabilities)
Dear Amanda, Chuck and Jen,
Hello, this is Avi Rubin.
Below is an email from my mother.
I would like to preface this email by saying that despite the hardships I have endured in my continued attempts to attend classes, and learn at and from P.S.U., I have greatly enjoyed my time there, and feel I have already gained foundational knowledge that will continue to help, and support me in my lifelong pursuit of education, which I am passionately committed to. It has been very difficult for me to live with the fact that, although I am committed, such as I have said, I am still facing financial barriers to attending P.S.U. despite having been born and raised in Portland Oregon. As a result of this, I have been unable to attend last term simply because of scholarship restrictions, unjustly applied to me due to my disabilities.
Finally, I would like to say that I can’t understand why my already demonstrated commitment to education, shown by being a straight A student at PSU for three terms, is not sufficient in and of itself for my acceptance to enroll in your educational institution, whose point is to educate people!
Please see the email below from my mother, which has been written collaboratively with me by her side.
[Below is the email written by mom from Avi’s account – with Avi by my side]
[OMG – Avi wrote the above statement ALL BY HIMSELF – please see his stand and his commitment from that, and bear with me for my anger and frustration as his parent. This is a VERY HARD situation – especially at times like this right now, when we have been two months behind in our mortgage and have no money for groceries – let alone for Hanukah presents].
Hello.
We were so exasperated by this response (your response to us, below – in October) that we waited until now to respond again to you. In fact this past term I had given up on trying to reach a resolution with you. Avi self-educated this past term (and learned so much!) but you need to know that every single day he asked me when he would be able to go back to school at PSU.
I had given up because your response (to our September 2022 communication) clearly indicated that you did not bother to read or perhaps did not bother to try to understand the issue at hand. Your response is – in fact – evidence of “more of the same” discriminatory behavior within the PSU admission and scholarship system.
Your response is a clear representation of the catch 22 that we initially communicated to you back in September (as well as the previous year in our zoom conversations with the DRC).
Before we get into explaining the situation YET AGAIN (in the hopes that you will – this time, understand it), we want you (as an institution) to clearly understand the COST and IMPACT of your actions.
SO – the cost and impact:
We are a low income family with multiple disabled children. Avi is incredibly intelligent (beyond his years) and is also an excellent student. He is 17 years old right now and – during the pandemic – with support of his high school counsellor, took the GED early to demonstrate that he was ready to attend college in spite of his disabilities. Starting at just 16 years old he then took three terms of classes (7 or 8 credits a term) at PSU to prove to himself (and his parents) that he could manage the academic workload of that many credits. We managed to scrape together the funds to pay for two of these terms even though – as a young person who was BORN in PORTLAND and who has LIVED IN PORTLAND his entire life – he should be eligible for FREE TUITION (via the FOUR YEARS FREE PROGRAM) at PSU.
By your REFUSING to bother to take the time to understand the CATCH 22 that we find ourselves in (as rearticulated in our September 2022 communication to you) – and by REFUSING to work with us to find a solution we #1) were not in a position to pay for Avi’s tuition for his most recent term at PSU (a debt we still owe at this moment) and #2) Avi was therefore also NOT ABLE TO REGISTER for another term at PSU (Fall Term 2022) because of the hold on his account for non-payment.
So your actions made it so that Avi was not able to attend school in the Fall because you didn’t bother to try to understand the situation and (urgently) attempt to help us at that time..
HERE The situation is (outlined) again:
- FOUR YEARS FREE SCHOLARSHIP: Under the current paradigm, Avi cannot enroll in PSU with enough credits to qualify for the FOUR YEARS FREE TUITION program because of his DISABILITY.
- EIGHT CREDIT POSSIBLE MAXIMUM: Based on his experience at PSU so far (three completed terms), we have determined unequivocally that 8 credits is the absolute maximum he can take in a term (and 6 or 7 is much more feasible) BECAUSE OF HIS DISABILITY. Please also be very clear: Avi’s disabilities make it extremely difficult for him to do even 8 credits per term at this point in his life.
- TWELVE CREDIT REQUIRED MINIMUM: The FOUR YEARS FREE program requires FULL TIME enrollment of at least 12 credits, which Avi cannot do BECAUSE OF HIS DISABILITY.
- FAFSA’S DISCRIMINATORY POLICY: In fact – given a course load of 6 or 7 credits is more reasonable for Avi BECAUSE OF HIS DISABILITY (combined with the mix of classes available any given term) Avi CANNOT really even apply for tuition assistance through FAFSA which requires: #1) ENROLLMENT in the school (which may require a 12 credit minimum to be considered an undergraduate at PSU, although we are not 100% clear about that) #2) at least half-time enrollment (which we understand is 8 credits) which might not be feasible each and every term BECAUSE OF HIS DISABILITY.
- EIGHT CREDIT MINIMUM FOR FAFSA: Tuition assistance through FAFSA is only for undergraduate students attending at least half time.
- PSU’s 12 CREDIT MINIMUM for FRESHMAN ENROLLMENT (?): Finally – PSU requires (as we understand it, and as has been communicated to us) that a student must be enrolled in at least 12 credits per term to be considered a fully matriculated undergraduate student. This is not possible for Avi BECAUSE OF HIS DISABILITY. Please correct us if this understanding is wrong.
WHAT WE WERE REQUESTING (THAT YOU APPARENTLY DIDN’T BOTHER TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND) is that we NEED HELP.
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
WE NEED YOUR HELP making an exception to the rules so that Avi (as a person BORN IN PORTLAND and RAISED in PORTLAND) can get FREE TUITION in spite of the fact that his DISABILITY prevents him from being able to take the 12 credits required to get FOUR YEARS FREE TUITION at PSU.
In a way NOT ONLY is PSU being discriminatory of people like Avi who have a brain injury and have limits in the course-load they can take because of their disability but the FAFSA is also a discriminatory process because it requires enrollment with at least a commitment of a 1/2 time credit course load for compliance.
WE cannot apply for the FAFSA because that would be fraudulent as a condition of FAFSA funding is that a student is going to be enrolled in school at least 1/2 time. We cannot enroll in the school because you won’t agree to let him have the FOUR YEARS FREE program with a part-time attendance.
AGAIN – WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR HELP.
WE NEED YOU TO MAKE AN EXCEPTION.
We are asking you to work with us to craft this exception to make it possible for this VERY BRIGHT student to attend the school of his choice (PSU) without creating undue stress by taking too many credits (something which causes him anxiety and other mental and physical health impacts because of limitations due to his BRAIN INJURY and other related health complications).
We have tried to get Avi the education he wants to have (science, math, music and art at PSU) by paying for tuition for part-time attendance for two semesters when we could not really afford to do so. We did this in an effort to work around your discriminatory practices and we are asking for your help. Our family should not have incurred the approx $10,000 in debts that we did (for three terms part time) when the only reason we are being charged for tuition is because of your discriminatory practices against people with a brain injury who cannot attend 8 credits or more a term due to their disabilities and therefore also cannot be eligible for your DISCRIMINATORY FOUR YEARS FREE Scholarship program.
This is especially frustrating given members of our extended family have been professors at PSU (Robert Colescott, my eldest son’s grandfather – and his wife Sally Dennett, as well – I believe, back in the 1960s) and our extended family has been in Portland for many generations (even though our nuclear family “just” moved here 20 years ago).
Please advise.
Avi is going to try to enroll in the Winter term (starting in January) for 7 or 8 credits. To make this possible, we are getting some help in covering his tution (money we otherwise would use for essentials – like groceries and our housing costs, which we currently do not have the resources to fully cover) .We are going to try to pay off the debt for his most recent term (even though, frankly we should not have to) – and we hope (if at all possible) to have all of the tuition that we have paid to date refunded to our family once you have resolved this.
We are also concerned that if we continue to manage to find loans to pay for tuition prior to resolving this with PSU, that you will at some point no longer consider him a first-year student – so our attempt to get him an education in spite of your discriminatory policies could then somehow disqualify him for the 4 years free scholarship that he has a right to. In fact, this is in fact exactly what happened with my older son, Alexander Rubin, who also has disabilities (once we were finally able for him to apply to attend PSU full time we were told by PSU admins that even though he was just 18, he had too many credits that he had earned as an non matriculated student and so he also was disqualified from receiving the FOUR YEARS FREE SCHOLARSHIP because you no longer considered him a first year student!] He also has an outstanding tuition balance due for this same reason – for tuition he never should have had to pay (Note: Alexander was also born in Portland and raised in Portland.]
I think the next step would be for us to meet (in person?) with Chuck – and/or the president of the school (perhaps the president of your Board of Directors as well?) [I also think DRC and PSU in general needs sensitivity training around helping people with brain injuries – and that needs to be part of our conversation].
The opportunity here is for you to work with us to create an exception (actually – instead let’s call it “a new rule for exceptional students”) that circumvents your entrenched discriminatory scholarship practices.
If you really give this some thought – hopefully you too are sick to your stomach over this as we are. Ask yourself: How is it that a disabled young person (from a low income family) who wants to attend school is being 100% prevented from attending school solely because of circumstances related to an outdated bureaucratic policy that has been implemented in such a way that it creates a loop of discrimination against him (denying him a full tuition scholarship to college that he has a right to) simply because of his disability?
Screenshots below are of FAFSA / PSU and Four Years Free requirements are attached.
We can also submit a FAFSA application – but again – as we understand it he would only be eligible for this funding with at least 8 credits (and possibly only with 12 – depending on PSU’s policy for minimum credits for enrollment as a Freshman – which we are still unclear about), with 8 credits per term not always possible for Avi (given the limits imposed by his brain injury) depending on the mix of classes he chooses to take and how many credits each of those classes are.
Do you understand?
IN CONCLUSION IN VERY SIMPLE TERMS:
What we are asking is an exception to your 12 credit minimum for the four years free program, given limitations required by Avi’s BRAIN INJURY. IF you can assure us that you will work with us and make an exception (aka: stop discriminating against Avi and others who have similar academic limitations – by disallowing scholarship funds simply for circumstances related to their disability), then we will proceed with next steps (a formal application to PSU and an application to FAFSA – both of which we have not done because of the baked in discriminatory policies at PSU and FAFSA) – but our understanding is that Avi will only get FAFSA funding with 8 credits minimum – so we would also want your assurances that he could get 100% funding during terms in which he is only able to enroll in a mix of classes totalling 7 credits (or less). Separately and additionally, we would like your attention given to the possibility of refunding us for tuition paid to date and wiping out any balances due (for both Avi [aka David] and Alexander Rubin).
FROM Tamara Rubin (Mom)
Edited and Drafted with Avi Rubin – who has a BRAIN INJURY and needs help with these things
Edited and Drafted with Avi Rubin – who has a BRAIN INJURY and needs help with these things
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Good job, Avi (and Mama!). Fingers crossed that this is your 2022 hannukah miracle.
Sounds like an ADA lawsuit to me, but IANAL
I’d be trying to get the ADA involved! So frustrating! Good luck!
Great job by you and Avi addressing this pretty obvious injustice. I wonder if PSU would want to make an exception here and perhaps in other cases where there is a relevant documented disability.