[Cabs-talk] Receiving Financial Assistance from the DOR for College Expanses

Sat Sep 20 20:56:09 UTC 2014

Hello Miso,
Dor's job is to "get you employed".
That is it. Nothing else, just to get you working for 6 months at a job 
so they can close your case and get 70% of the money they spent on you 
back from the federal government.
Always keep this in mind when you talk to them. They only will fund 
stuff that will get you closer to this goal. What is your plan with DOR? 
That may help me give you some ideas of how to ask for different stuff.
Also, who is your counselor's boss?
Do you know any people who have worked for DOR in the past? What county 
do you live in?
This is a system and that is all. It really does not matter how much 
money DOR spends on you as long as it fits within their system. The 
difficulty is that you need to do all kinds of digging and asking 
questions in informal situations to get what you need.
I may sound a little arrogant, and I'm sorry, but that is how I keep 
from being disappointed when I don't get the funding that I request. 
When I am able to do a full season, I fill out between 80-120 
scholarship applications in a year and maybe get 10.
DOR just happens to be one of my largest funding sources, along with SSI 
and one of the other Scholarships I get for going to a CSU. I opted out 
of going to a UC for many reasons, but one was that DOR will not pay 
completely for the UC colleges and it is a whole lot more difficult to 
get funding for a UC than a CSU.
Granted, the CSU system is not the best (The administration is 
horrible!), but doing things like going to Italy is the same price as 
staying in CA. So I am attending one of the most expensive Italian 
Colleges for a little while while paying really nothing...
If your parents make under the $150000 a year mark, you are able to 
apply for some governmental aid. I would attend any scholarship workshop 
your school has, they will talk about the 3 types of government grants 
there. It has something to do with "dream". There is also the Cal Grant 
and Pel Grant.
But this is where Google is your friend. Do searches for:
scholarships for blind
government aid for students in CA
dealing with DOR counselors in CA
Hopefully something will answer your questions there.
But as I found when I went over seas, not even the top officials know 
all their rules. I had to bring in the one exception in the SSI law that 
allowed me to study over seas while still receiving SSI. They had to 
verify it and do all kinds of checking, but because I had googled my 
question and found this one little exception in the law, that helps me 
to get my most steady source of funding, even over seas.
please reply with your questions and I can attempt to answer them.
thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs <http://www.brandonkeithbiggs.com/>
On 9/20/2014 10:01 PM, Miso Kwak via Cabs-talk wrote:
> Hello,
> Thank you to everyone who has taken a time to reply to my emails 
> either on list or off list.
> Brandon, Marianne, your replies made me laugh for different reasons...
> What I am frustrated about is the discrepancy that exists within the 
> same service provider (DOR of California) as displayed in this very 
> own email thread. Someone is receiving surplus of funding for whatever 
> reason while I am continuously feeling that I am misinformed and 
> unfairly treated. Why is this so?
> I do have a part time job which I am learning a lot from and receiving 
> enough money for me to not have to ask my parents for allowances. 
> However, this is not sufficient at all for textbook purchases and 
> costs for attending an UC institution.
> The DOR is certainly frustrating because of the burucreacy that exists 
> and discrepancy that I find from what I experience and other people 
> whom I know with different counselors experience.
> I am not trying to receive money I do not deserve if the government 
> finds that my family makes too much money in their standards. I am 
> just looking for information from a source I can trust and something 
> that I can navigate easily if I qualify for the funding.
> Miso Kwak
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marianne Hewitt Robbins via Cabs-talk <cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: California Association of Blind Students Mailing List 
> <cabs-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sat, Sep 20, 2014 12:33 pm
> Subject: Re: [Cabs-talk] Receiving Financial Assistance from the DOR 
> for College Expanses
>
> Brandon,
> Seriously!?!? Your message makes me want to scream!
> You state you are a student of performance. Perhaps your email is 
> indeed a sarcastic, cynical performance. If so, I'd give you an A+.
> Many, many deserving people who are blind or have visual impairment 
> struggle just to maintain themselves and perhaps, to achieve 
> educational goals to better themselves.
> I'll bet your DOR counselor would love to know what a cavalier 
> attitude you have. Perhaps he or she could provide you with assistance 
> in your  struggle to decide what to do with your excess cash and 
> accumulation of adaptive equipment.
> Miso, who is seeking support and assistance with sincerity does not 
> deserve this reply!
>
>
>
> On Sep 20, 2014, at 12:28 AM, Brandon Keith Biggs via Cabs-talk 
> <cabs-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>> Hello Miso,
>> DOR will only pay for CSU costs unless you can prove that that major 
> is not offered at a CSU system in any way shape or form.
>> They will pay for CSU costs though. They don't need to pay for 
> Community College, because you get the board of governors scholarship 
> to pay for that.
>> They will pay for textbooks, you just need to have a dip of cash you 
> can pay using a card because the textbook voucher won't come in till 
> after you need the books. Then you take both the voucher and your 
> receipt to the bookstore and they will refund you.
>> You need to be a very squeaky wheel when it comes to DOR, 10-20 
> emails for one issue and about 10 calls is normal.
>> You also need to be very very firm in what you want and ask for the 
> paperwork rather than asking them what they can do.
>> They also can buy you equipment that will help you both in school and 
> in the workforce for the job and plan you are under at DOR.
>> I don't know what major you are, but for me as a performer (got to 
> love the vagueness of that description) I have gotten so much awesome 
> stuff from them, I swear I'm almost an accessibility office in my room...
>> I must say that my counselors have been super super good, explaining 
> to me what DOR could do and me being a fan of free money and found it 
> was a better use of my time sending and hounding DOR than getting a 
> full-time job at this point...
>> So I googled, talked to people and really treated my funding hunting 
> a full-time job. I get around $24000 a year in funding now and I'm now 
> in Italy, going to school at the most expensive college in Milano. It 
> is really worth being blind in college and there is no better thing 
> one can do than hunt for scholarships.
>> I am, how ever, very week when it comes to what to do with all the 
> extra money I get. I have like ... a lot of money in the bank for 
> school and I hate it, it is just sitting there and I don't know too 
> much on investing it in a way that I can pull it out kind of fast, or 
> steadily. If you do know something on this please let me know! :)
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Brandon Keith Biggs <http://www.brandonkeithbiggs.com/>
>> On 9/20/2014 1:17 AM, Miso Kwak via Cabs-talk wrote:
>>> Hello CABS,
>>> What procedure (if any) do you usually go through when trying to get 
> financial reimbursement for textbook purchase?
>>> In the end, if any, what kind of assistance do you get for your 
> textbook purchase?
>>> I was told by my counselor that she can only reimburse up to $100 
> with prior approval. Is this true?
>>> Also, in addition to textbook purchase, I am having a hard time 
> communicating with my counselor about financial assistance for college 
> tuition. I was once told from an adult who attended university in 
> California that I am eligible for state university tuition but my DOR 
> counselor says that for my first two years the DOR can only provide up 
> to community college tuition when certain conditions are met.
>>> I think this is mainly a problem of miscommunication and 
> misunderstanding on my part to a certain extent.
>>> How could I find out accurate information regarding these matters?
>>> Best,
>>> Miso Kwak
>>>
>>>
>>>
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