Aryell Adams, sophomore undeclared, is a student who will not be returning to Central Washington University next year. It’s not because of poor grades or lack of interest. There’s no disciplinary problems or a family crisis in her life. Adams can no longer afford to attend Central due to the cost of tuition and lack of financial aid.
A strong-headed young woman and a member of the Yakama Nation, Adams moved out of her mother’s house in Yakima when she turned 18 and went to live with her aunt and cousins who also lives in Yakima. Two of her aunts and her grandmother all own houses next door to each other, so her family is nearby. Adams has always been expected to attend college because her mother and aunts did before her. It has also been her responsibility to pay for her schooling. Throughout high school, Adams saved money from her summer job working with wildland firefighting to pay for her future education.
“I got accepted into the UW, but I didn’t go there because they wanted me to take out a bunch of loans,” Adams said. “Central, my first year, basically provided me with the best financial aid I could get.”
Central was the only school that would provide Adams enough aid to cover tuition, but she still had to take out a $5,000 loan to cover the cost of on-campus housing.
Adams hopes to be able to get a degree in geography or environmental sciences so she can advance in a career in wildland firefighting. Adams has been involved in wildland firefighting since she was 17. When she turned 18, she took the 45 minute, three mile, 45 lb pack test in the Yakima summer heat, but Adams says it wasn’t really that bad.
“What I really want to do is be as diverse a firefighter I can be. I want to get a degree and do every kind of fire course I can possibly take,” Adams said.
In September 2009 just before her second year of school started Adams was notified that she would not be receiving financial aid for the school year.
“I honestly don’t know why. I kept talking to the [financial aid office] and I kept trying to get financial aid and all that stuff and they just didn’t really give me any options,” Adams said.
Three days later Adams took a $15,000 loan to cover the cost of tuition, making her total in loans $20,000. Adams got some help from her aunts and grandma back in Yakima and chose to live off-campus with her boyfriend, Jared Swan, to try and save money.
Swan is a fellow wildland firefighter and has supporter Adams as she’s tried to find ways to stay at Central.
“We wouldn’t have food or a decent place to stay or anything if we paid out of pocket [for tuition,]” Swan said. “Just to get around, just to get by, it takes a lot of money.”
By February, Adams realized that paying for school with loans was not going to work.
“I was sitting in Subway and trying to figure out what I was going to do. I was thinking and talking to my boyfriend and trying to figure everything out and I was just like ‘I’m not going to be able to afford it,’” Adams said. “I just decided that really I had no option other than to find a different school. So I got into my car and I went to go talk to my grandma about going to Haskell.”
Haskell Indians Nation University is a small college in Lawrence, Kansas that is available only to Native American students. Tuition and housing are free at Haskell, but it’s not Adams’ first choice.
“I don’t want to go there, I don’t want to move five states away to Kansas but it’s all getting paid for so that’s why I’m going,” Adams said.
On Feb. 4, Adams attended the student walk out rally, just days after she had finalized her plans to leave Central. Adams said it was a spontaneous decision and
she ended up sharing her story with the board of trustees.
“I just wanted them to see how rising tuition and cutting financial aid, how it affects students in that they are sending them away,” Adams said.
The change in schools will put over 1,700 miles between Adams and her family,
friends and the wildland firefighting community that she loves.
“My little cousins are really upset about it. I’m really family oriented and it’s just kind of hard for me to think about being so far away from them,” Adams said. “I go home every other weekend and see them and hang out with them and it’s going to be hard to do that five states away.”
Wendy Lopez, sophomore undeclared, is Adams’ old roommate and says that Adams has grown attached to Central.
“It takes motivation and she goes back to firefighting because it feels like family. And it’s the same as at Central, Central is home.”
Despite the changes set in her future Adams is hopeful that she’ll be able to come back to Central to finish her degree once she saves enough money.
“It’s gonna be a new experience and I just plan on adapting to it and making it the best I can,” Adams said.
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