Life has thrown my wife and I a lot of challenges in the last few months, that we are financially struggling to cover after two months of winging it with what savings we've had, and now we need help.
We are currently a single income household because I am a full-time graduate student and my school workload does not give me the ability to work a full-time job (or really feasibly a part-time job, and not for a lack of trying anyway) while I'm in my program. Due to impacts of the restructuring of the federal financial aid system thanks to the Trump administration, my school has been delayed (now) two months getting my financial aid processed and disbursed, and, while it's supposed to be disbursed by the end of August, I have an issue with my account and I am not confident in their general timeline as they have moved it out multiple times since June 2026, which leaves me missing $5000 that I use to put toward our bills and expenses throughout the quarter. We are currently in Week 8 out of 11 weeks for this quarter, and I still have not received my funding.
In July 2026, Paislie was laid off from their job as a mental health therapist without severance due to an unanticipated office closure, and they were given a month to find new jobs, close out their caseloads of 30+ clients, and figure it out, so we didn't have time to prepare for the financial impacts that this would have. They were able to secure a job at a group private practice, but in private practice, you must build a caseload and actually see clients to get paid, and that takes time we do not currently have. We are waiting on a background check to come through for another private practice, which has a backlog of cases for them to take on, providing us with a more stable income; however, this process has been stalled because Pai's driver's license has expired, and we need to get that renewed on Monday, so that they can run the background check.
I anticipate receiving my financial aid by the end of September for October's bills, which will be amazing. But we need to make it through the beginning of September, and we have reached a point where we cannot do that without help. Setting up this fundraiser has been a last resort because we don't have any other options.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story.
I know that life has been incredibly expensive for everyone lately, and I totally understand that this is a massive ask.
If you can comfortably donate, please do.
If you can't, that's okay. My ask is that you share this campaign with friends and family.
