Cassidy: A fictional profile based on narratives and data

Cassidy is a 23-year-old female who is a full-time student at Pellissippi State Community College. Upon beginning school, Cassidy worked several days a week at a call center and on weekends as a server at a local bar and grille. In high school, Cassidy dreamed of going to medical school at a nearby university, but her family could not afford the yearly tuition and books, much less a meal plan and on-campus housing. After graduation, Cassidy decided to take a year off to save money for college and began working in the service industry, where she met her boyfriend. The one year off from school became five and Cassidy and her boyfriend now live together in an apartment with their two small children. While Cassidy would say her life has been good these past five years, even with her two jobs and her boyfriend working sixty hours a week, it’s a struggle to pay bills. As a result, Cassidy has decided to take classes at Pellissippi State with the goal of becoming a nurse. She completes her application, visits the financial aid office to line up funding, including a Pell Grant, and works with an advisor to sign up for courses.

As fall semester begins, Cassidy is excited about her classes, her professors, and her new career goals. On the first day, she drives her twelve-year-old maroon Honda Civic across town toward the campus, ignoring the knocking noise that comes from the car’s right wheel well and singing along at the top of her lungs to a Lizzo song. Cassidy’s stomach flutters as she enters her first class, sits down in a blue chair, and tries to log onto the computer. She is unsuccessful, but the professor soon enters the room and introduces herself, then takes roll and puts students into groups to get to know each other. Cassidy begins to feel more at ease. Maybe I do belong here, she thinks. During the first weeks of classes, while Cassidy is tired and sometimes feels pulled between juggling parenting, her two jobs, and her coursework, she rejoices in the high grades she’s making on her assignments and takes advantage of college resources like the Academic Support Center. She’s considering joining a club and has been trying to organize a study group through a group text she participates in with members of her biology class.

During week four of classes, Cassidy’s mother, who watches Cassidy’s children, becomes ill and can no longer keep the kids in her home. Cassidy asks other family members and her boyfriend’s parents

for help, but none are able or willing to commit to babysitting. Cassidy’s boyfriend, who works in manufacturing, can’t afford to miss work. With no childcare, Cassidy begins skipping her afternoon classes to care for her children after her boyfriend leaves for work. Classmates from the group text reach out to ask Cassidy what’s going on, but she doesn’t reply. None of them have children, so how could they possibly understand? Cassidy thinks. Cassidy’s grades begin to slip, and she wonders how she will ever make it through the fall semester.

Things go from bad to worse a few weeks later when Cassidy is forced to quit her call center job. Her boyfriend’s work hours have changed and now he’s unable to care for the children at all during the day. With only her server job, Cassidy’s income is reduced significantly, and she begins to worry how she and her boyfriend will buy formula, diapers, and even food. Cassidy’s stomach sinks when she finds a letter in her mailbox informing her that the landlord has just increased the rent by fifty dollars a month. As Cassidy sets out for the grocery store one day, her car makes a shuddering sound and dies, and Cassidy slowly gets out, picks up her children, and walks back into the apartment. She sinks down onto the couch under a wave of depression and anxiety. Well, there go my dreams of attending college and becoming a nurse, she thinks.

Written by Assistant Professor Anna Childs

Note: the Low-Income Student Services Taskforce will share the rest of Cassidy’s story on April 24, 2023.