Shawn and Shane Brooks had a problem. They'd been accepted into Morehouse College, excited to attend the same school as Martin Luther King Jr. and other black male leaders.
But then they got their financial aid packages.
"When I first saw, like, the financial aid package, it was like, very like discouraging,鈥� Shane said. 鈥淏ecause you're just like, wow like, it's just a bunch of loans, we're gonna be in debt."
Shane and his brother are twins. The only grant they were offered was the federal Pell Grant. Shane said Morehouse was asking each of them to take out $38,000 loans -- just for the first year.
"Thank God we do have scholarships,鈥� Shane said. "We was working hard, so we have some type of scholarships that kinda covers half, or a quarter of it, but we'll still be in debt."
They both have impressive resumes. Shawn was class president his senior year at the Science and Technology Magnet School in New London, and Shane was treasurer. . They volunteer at different youth organizations, Shawn's a student rep on the local school board. They both graduated in the top 10 percent of their class, and they work at ShopRite.
But all those accolades and hard work weren't enough, it seems, to pay for college. So they came up with a plan -- use GoFundMe, an online fundraising tool.
"My mom, Shane and I we were like on the bed and we were like, 'Alright, let's get this GoFundMe page,鈥� Shawn said. 鈥淏ecause we were talking about it for like, the longest. And then we finally sat down and did it. We did the little summary, as was like, 'OK, we're going to like upload it, and post it.'"
The twins had no trouble getting the word out. Over a hundred people since they posted it online two months ago. They're looking to raise $50,000.
But only three people have given money, and they've only raised $55. Shawn suggests that maybe their popularity in the community is actually hurting their cause.
"Even though we do have a community that supports us -- a lot of people, on the outside, like we're good, like we're great. 'Oh, they get scholarships, they get this,鈥�" Shawn said. 鈥淏ut they don't really dig deep in our world and like, no, we still got far more. So there's like this false narrative kind of about us, like, 'Oh, they're good.'"
Part of the problem with their fundraising effort might also be because of how GoFundMe works.
We searched GoFundMe for "黑料吃瓜网 college tuition" and the boys' campaign wasn't there. But there were campaigns unrelated to the search -- like, there was one for autism therapy for a boy in New Jersey.
GoFundMe鈥檚 CEO, Rob Solomon, said the search function is something they鈥檙e always tweaking.
鈥淭he primary use case for our search box is, you type in the name of the person or -- a little bit more defined information than just '黑料吃瓜网 college tuition' for example,鈥� Solomon said. 鈥淚f you typed in 鈥楯ohn Doe, 黑料吃瓜网 college, tuition fund,鈥� we鈥檇 probably return that result pretty well. It isn鈥檛 always perfect, we鈥檙e trying to get better and better at it.鈥�
About 70 to 80 percent of donors access campaigns through social media, Solomon said, and not directly through the GoFundMe website.
While it鈥檚 hard to find data, it does seem like more students are looking for novel ways to pay for college. Solomon said that education campaigns are the fastest growing of all fundraising categories.
鈥淲hen you need help, and the systems that are supposed to be there to help you, can鈥檛, then you turn to your friends, family, or your local community, and education is one of those categories that resonates really well,鈥� Solomon said.
Most colleges, including Morehouse, Tuition is a major source of revenue. In fact, since public investment across the country has fallen by billions since the 2008 recession,
Put it all together, and there鈥檚 less money for schools to help incoming students.
At Morehouse, its reliance on tuition for revenue has been gradually increasing, . Morehouse didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.
Andrew Gillen, an adjunct economics professor at Johns Hopkins University, suggests that students start thinking differently about college.
"We have a very romantic view of college,鈥� Gillen said. 鈥淪o, you go on these college tours, and you're trying to find the right fit. And that's great, and if you can afford that, great. But just because you like a campus doesn't mean you should spend the extra $200,000 over the four or five years to go there, right? Like, I'm pretty sure if I drove a Porsche, I'd love it, but I can't afford it."
But Shane and Shawn Brooks would be the first in their family to graduate from college. And Morehouse's reputation remains stellar. That's what costs so much, and colleges bank on their reputation to attract the best students.
The U.S. Department of Education will soon be releasing . Gillen says that should give prospective students a better sense of a degree's value.
Despite the financial hurdle, Shane and Shawn are heading to Morehouse in August. Their mom is taking out a parent loan to pay for their first year. They're hoping that a combination of fundraising and scholarships will help pay for later years.
