Catholic Relief Services

I have been reaching out to the Maryland Higher Education Commission for over ten years, and the experience has been nothing short of frustrating. When I first tried to apply for the Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Tuition Waiver between 2011 and 2014, the person listed as the program contact, Dr. Michelle Daley, never once answered the phone or returned a single call during the three years I tried to reach her. Because of that, I entered the University of Baltimore with no guidance on what benefits to request or how to access the support I was entitled to as a former foster youth and unaccompanied homeless student. Fast forward to today, under the current administration, and I am still being bounced around. I was told to reach out to the school’s financial aid office, who informed me they cannot issue a retroactive waiver. Instead, I was directed to apply for a one-time $5,000 tax credit. That is a paltry sum compared to the nearly $30,000 in student loan debt I incurred at Maryland universities, debt that never should have existed had MHEC provided accurate direction and access to the waiver in the first place. It is infuriating to think that someone could ignore phone calls and outreach for years, leave students without direction, and still remain in their role without accountability. I would not wish my experience on anyone. Maryland prides itself on supporting foster youth, but in practice, I was left behind by the very system that was supposed to protect and guide me.

They can't handle basically any call load. Embarrassing for a government organization. Every time I have to call them its a 4 hour ordeal with my call dropping out half a dozen times. Their website seemingly runs on a Pentium D cpu from 2005 and an IDE hard drive. They need to step up their infrastructure. I can deal with workers who don't want to be there and just want to deal with me but the hardware they have needed to be upgraded 15 years ago.

Michelle should not be working in the mental health industry. From being rude and combative when asked questions in a calm matter, to telling a patient in a mental health facility that they are “acting crazy”. That should be enough for her to lose her license for good. Bitter old woman.