Mom panhandles on freeway on-ramps for son's tuition - 53K a year high school

update... mom, son and expensive arts school are getting trashed in the comments following the article. People think the money should go to get the son an marketable education. They are also asking about the whereabouts of the 'deadbeat dad'

Mom panhandles for son's tuition



Moms will do anything for their children--even stand at freeway on-ramps to beg for money to pay for their children's school tuition. That's what one mother in Bellevue, Wash., is doing.

Shelle Curley's 17-year-old son, D.J. Strong, has the chance to do his senior year of high school at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts School in California. Strong is a talented dancer and received a $45,000 scholarship, but his recently laid-off, single mom was still thousands of dollars short. Tuition costs $53,000 a year. :wow:


Strong told Momlogic.com that she tried applying for jobs, selling candy, and washing cars as well as applying for loans. But she wasn't making money fast enough and since she's applying for high school tuition, not college, she wasn't able to secure a loan. Curley's daughter jokingly suggested that her mom beg, but Curley took the suggestion seriously. What else could she do?

Curley has been making about $45 an hour on some ramps but she says it gets competitive and homeless people often try to kick her off the most profitable spots. So far she has raised the first deposit of $1,433, as well as $511 for gas and lodging so she can drive down to the school for parent's weekend. The next payment is due November 1, but she hopes to find a job before then.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=47529&tsp=1#ixzz0R6wmwnOr

And begging for it?


:wtf:

All males aren't jocks, you know.

Kudos to this mom. I hope the story inspires somebody to step in and donate the rest of the tuition. I hope the story gets her a decent JOB.

Public school probably would of gotten the job done too and left him enough time to actually be a kid.

$50K!?! Thats more than my ridiculously expensive university. Bleh

They teach you how to be a complete and utter asshole in dance class?

in the country, not to mention highest priced real estate in the Seattle area. She's humiliating herself and her kids.

Asshole! :nuke:

the funny thing is, male ballet dancers are overall in better physical condition than most traditional "athletes".


(And my younger son - also a dancer, just started football this year. He's 10 yo - and the coaches say he's in better condition than most of the other kids on the field, and is more agile and has quicker feet than any other kid his size. And he's a very BIG one, too.)

credited his artistic ability to catch the ball and avoid defenders to...

ballet lessons.

used ballet to enhance their posing routine.

Just curious... :shrug:

that Arnold and Franco at the time engaged in gay-for-pay/muscle worshipping to afford the expenses of bodybuilding.

There's no "possibly" about it. :P

And Lynn Swann is the typical example to use in this situation.

Lynn Swann WAS a Steeler!

(Thought I lost a lot of respect for him when I found out he was a Republican. :( )

I have an immense amount of respect for what ballet dancers can do, but my understanding is that in many cases the physical toll it exacts on them in later years is fairly nasty. I've only ever done much lower-impact forms of dancing (morris dance, Highland etc) and the after-effects of those can be bad enough...

players to take ballet in order to gain strength and control of their muscles. The coaches insisted that the ballet training made them better players and better athletes.

I'm sure there are athletes today that take dance classes for the same reasons.

I once saw a Russian dancer, during a performance of The Nutcracker, lift an American prima ballerina like she was a feather weight and that woman weighed in the neighborhood of 150 pounds...

To the naysayers above, I've got to tell you: Women LOVE men who can dance. :D

on edit: I keep dropping the "s" off of the ends of words... :blush:

he "picks up girls all the time"!

:rofl:


Funny thing is, the guys I know are so much more respectful of girls than their non-dancing counterparts.


My younger son swears that tap was the best thing for soccer.

Jay Thomas in Mr. Holland's Opus. "our football coach made us minor in modern dance."

who would arguably need the money more. I'm not sure I'm behind this woman. I'll have to think about it.

There are a lot of things that I would love to provide my children, and I suppose there are creative, and even unsavory ways I could use for procuring them. That I haven't, speaks to who I am as a person I guess. But, I'm not sure who that is. A mom who is unwilling, unmotivated, or unable to innovate ideas to go that extra mile for her children? Or a woman with different priorities, and/or some kind of (possibly distorted) values.

Like I said, I'll have to think about it.

This kid cried, "But mommy, Ill die without dance!"

Hell, my son would kill to be able to go.

See...situations like this are tearing the moral fabric of this country apart. Damn you High School Musical!

did you drop out of comedy school?

:rofl:

Sorry

- that was very funny.

He's a good dancer, just got a very late start and then had a couple of injuries that delayed him another year.

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"Curley has been making about $45 an hour on some ramps but she says it gets competitive and homeless people often try to kick her off the most profitable spots."

So even the homeless now are ruthless capitalists?

They have to be.

The ones you see in spots that are especially good for panhandling are often there because they've been able to keep others away from the spot. Wander through the rights parts of some cities and you'll see some fairly heated confrontations over whose street corner or mall entrance a given place is.

the kid to attend, you'd think they could work something out so the kid could attend.

To shame the school into either coughing up the rest of the money or letting her have a more lenient payment schedule.

holy fuckin' DAMN

near one on one interaction with teachers/coaches.

If the kid is good, and gets into this special high school for his last year, he would then be thinking Juilliard, and then a professional dance company.

paying the earth, surely? But I have nothing but admiration for the lad's mother, apart from her looks. Mother Courage.

couldn't deal with that level of guilt!

I do applaud her for doing what it takes for her son, but her behavior does seem kind of extreme and bizarre, IMO.

Something tells me this is more about her than her son.

Good moms will do just about anything for their kids and their kids hopes, dreams, futures . . .

:eyes:

sidelines, as some sports moms and dads are prone to.

:hide:

and it's done wonders for this kid- who's prodigiously talented but was all over the map before going to Idyllwild. I must admit I had no idea it was so expensive. My friends aren't wallowing in money though they're comfortable.

In any case, there's something that sits the wrong way with me re this woman panhandling for tuition.

That's crap. I cannot fathom how begging other people for their hard-earned money can net $45/hr. People are suckers.

Try it some time, Boil.
You'll be happy to know that not everyone who stops gives her money. Some take a page from your compassion book and stop just to tell her she's lazy.

I'd rather give money to a man with a sign that says 'Why lie? I need beer." than the religious groups outside Walmart. At least I'm fairly certain that the bum at Fifth and 34th didn't support Amendment 2 like the Mt Hope Lamb Of God Blood On The Cross Primitive Baptist Church did.

to finance the learning experience of a lifetime. They too are taking bread out of the mouths of the homeless. One kid in my town had a sign that read "Out of Work Porn Star. Please help!" He was immensely popular that summer, far as I can tell.

She's allowed to do what she wants, and if people choose to help a kid's education rather than feed poor people, it's their choice as well. She says it's not permanent, and hopefully she'll find a job soon so the money can go to those in more dire need.

PS. To the poster who thinks dance school is a black mark, don't kid yourself. Dancers do VERY well in the attracting game.

and people are willing to give her money it's not up to me to judge. I wouldn't contribute, because there are people in a lot more dire straits than her that need help, but I have no problem with what she's doing if it works for her.

Sorry, I know we all love our kids and would do anything for them, but that mom needs a reality check.


Also, this story makes me think twice about giving money to panhandlers!

Are they really so down and out or are we all being played?!

And while we're on the topic, I'm sick and tired of parents trying to get vouchers and tax credits for private schools. I'm happy to support public education but parents need to send their kids to private and religious schools on their own dime (or scholarship if they can get it).

If you have a talented child and that child has been offered the chance of a lifetime, you will do what you have to in order for him/her to take it.

You cannot know the guilt that the parent would feel if, even through no fault of his/her own, that opportunity is snatched away.

I do.

And even though I'm doing my best to make up for the lost opportunity (at the cost of $50 an hour that I can't really afford for voice lessons), I'm not sure I'll ever get over it because the voice lessons were only a small part of the tuition he lost.

As for my son, he lost his direction and his faith in so much.

While I would not beg on the street for the money (there are more refined ways of begging--a corporate sponsorship or two or more), I will not condemn her for trying to do her best for her son.

It is possible the kid is also working for the tuition, just not on the streets.

People can be so judgmental.

I mean, good for her for getting it from other people, but she wouldn't be getting it from me.

$70ish per hour to make the same in cash. Does not say how many hours per day but if she was able to "work" 40 hours per week she would be making $96.3 K per year cash (140k ish taxable)! Why is she looking for a job again?

Second only to Mercer Island (and perhaps Kirkland) in shi-shi. Bill Gates lives in what used to be a section of Bellevue, for example.

I had the benefit of growing up in one of the "poor" sections of Bellevue (in relative terms, of course). There was even a small stitch of Section 8-style housing (gasp!) next to where I played basketball all day every day.

But with Microsoft a few blocks up the road, and a super-shi-shi downtown, there is a LOT of money in Bellevue.

You seen Heathers? Mean Girls? 90210? That's Bellevue High School - no joke, no hyperbole.

This guy I went to high school with had his Ferrari go up in flames at a gas station (idiot). We went to the poor high school. http://www.komonews.com/news/archive/4157011.html

There are a lot of possibilities as to what it means for this lady's situation, but the general background might be useful to some.

A very generous scholarship, maybe they could make it a full one? I think mom is a nut.

high schools and colleges -- as well as public universities -- are not sustainable. This is a great example. $50K a year is ridiculous.

Not only that, if they could do the $45K scholarship, why not a full ride? If he's that good, they're going to nickel-and-dime over $5K?

I went to a CSU, and while it was certainly not as prestigious as, say, Harvard, I graduated with less debt than a Harvard attendee would accrue in a year.

Unless you're graduating from Harvard law or getting a full ride, I don't see how the average Harvard grad could begin to pay off a 100+ loan. :shrug:

from Wall Street investment banks. I don't think it's quite as easy since last year's collapse for recent grads.

$100K in debt for a degree that is uncertain to get you a high paying job is nuts, especially if you plan on going to a professional school directly after. God, imagine a few hundred K in debt from undergrad and then another few hundred from Med/Law school!

Seriously, that's way too expensive unless the teacher student ratio is 2/1 and they guarantee placement with a professional (ie can make a living doing this) dance company.

$53,000 a year for a damn high school? Jesus Christ, that's more than my undergrad degree is going to end up costing!

:wow:

probably start about 9-$10 :popcorn:

That has GOT to be a typo.

Harvard undergrad tuition is $34,000.

I'm thinking there's an error there.....................

With miscellaneous fees, books and such the total fees should easily reach 53K.

Tuition: For the 2009-10 school year, boarding student tuition is $47,500 (includes room and board) and day student tuition is $31,795 (includes lunch). Financial Supplement (Tuition and Fees) pdf.


http://www.idyllwildarts.org/academy/admission/tuition_fin_aid.html

Tuition AND room & board is $47,500.

Day student tuition is $31,795.

Stating that tuition - which does NOT include room & board - is $53,000 is wrong. That's what I thought.

Bad, bad reporting and bad, bad writing........................

Panhandling, unless you are truly and utterly desperate is kind of pathetic. I know I'm more concerned about the homeless and the disabled, and those that can't afford a meal than I am about this woman's desire to send her kid to some fancy arts school.

But then again, I suppose you can look at it like holding a fundraiser on the side of a street corner. It's probably a very nice school, but sometimes you just have to build your career another way. Either way, $50k/year for a fucking high school is insane...worse than many Ivy Leagues. Not all brilliant children can afford to go to Harvard undergrad, but I know of at least one that busted his ass off at an unknown undergrad and got into a very good grad school where he receives a stipend is working on his PhD.

You know as soon as one of these heartwarming stories goes big time it has a happy ending.

:wow: at that point I would just send him to a regular high school.

Some of the suggestions and tacit insults here are beyond sickening.

I'd like to point out that the late, great Patrick Swayze was first and foremost a dancer.

I hope her son achieves his dreams and I wish them both well. If I knew where to contribute, I would.