While scrolling through my feed and admiring some friends’ pregnancy pictures, pumpkin patch collages and delicious comfort food, there was a post about the “New American Way of Life.”

It was a post explaining how a couple (one a single mother and the other a male) shouldn’t get married but instead “live fat off the system.” Basically, the post was a how-to for cheating the government’s financial assistance programs.

But if you have ever been in the system you know this kind of crap doesn’t exist the way the American public thinks it does.

Misinformation bothers me so deeply because I am a single mother, and not long ago I was homeless and skipping meals so my child could eat. For three months in a row, even with government help, I had one penny in my bank account. There was no extra change in the car or on my desk; those sources were exhausted.

Let’s dispel misinformation right now.

First of all, a Federal Pell Grant has a maximum amount of $5,775 per year, according to Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education.

Yep, that’s right. It barely covers tuition for one semester at a whopping $5,178, not including the wallet-crushing $1,200 student and course fees per term.

There is no special Pell Grant or any other government grant for single mothers. Most of the Internet will try to tell you otherwise, but in five years of school this single mother has yet to receive $1 specifically for being a single parent.

As for food stamps, there is a lifetime limit on the amount of service you or your family can receive, which the government keeps track by way of social security number, similar to taxes.

Even if you switch states, the maximum you can receive is five years or a set number of months, whichever occurs first.

In order to remain eligible for the program you can’t gross more than $1,705 per month for a two-person family. Like, a single mother and one child.

People are not allowed to ‘live off’ the system indefinitely, and those who go beyond the limit must attend a hearing – not in a local area – to extend their services.

The most recognizable housing program is Section 8, which is a program designed to give low income families access to a permanent residence for a low cost or for free. When tax payers hear the poor get something for free, the myths fling left and right when the truth is it is by no means a handout or a quick solution to the issue of homelessness.

If you wish to apply, there is a lengthy interview and long list of paperwork to provide and return, which in many cases has to be returned to an office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. only. Another stipulation with Section 8 is you have to stay poor. If you have a part-time job you can only work a certain number of hours per week to stay under the dollar limit per month or individuals are kicked off.

There is also a misconception that people on Section 8 get utilities for free. This isn’t correct either. In Pullman, for example, the Section 8 voucher covers rent and utilities, meaning the rent and utilities must be covered by the single Section 8 pre-approved amount. This is not easily done unless you want to live in a moldy crack den for fewer than $400 a month.

Now, you may be wondering how in the heck single mothers pay for schools like this with a $26,000 a year price tag and it’s called, “multiple funding sources.” Right now there are two federal grants, a state grant, a Coug waiver and a tribal scholarship funding my education.

I applied for ten scholarships last year and received one because I am a tribal member, not because I actually won a contest. It was a whole lot of work for not a big payout—welcome to the world of being a single parent.

None of the schools I have been to in Washington state has offered single parent programs to help cover the costs of health care, child care, food or gas. In fact, many of the places in the state barely have decent child care for fewer than $600 a month.

Schools like WSU could be doing so much more for single families, but they don’t. Much of my experience here has been set up primarily for nuclear families, like family housing, day care, etc.

Before you go harping on the cost of welfare or its recipients milking the system, remember they have to go through hours and hours of processing, copious paper work, and they have to be evaluated by pre-approved state doctors to get certain types of disability, which can be 20 – 60 miles away depending on location.

Poor people still have to find a way to get to and from all these places and turn things in on a pre-selected deadline, none of which is usually mentioned up front.

From my experience, being poor is a full-time job, just a different type work where everyone loses your documents, changes deadlines and holds you responsible for things they lost.

That Facebook post is a misrepresentation of welfare recipients.

The majority of people are on it for a reason, many of whom would not be able to eat tonight without government help.

Jorden Wilson is a senior psychology major from Seattle. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of the Office of Student Media.