A Full-time mother & full-time student in need of help

Hello, all! My name is Krys. I am a wife and a mother of an 8 month old beautiful girl named Lilly. We are a paycheck to paycheck family and the fact that I can go to school is just so amazing to me everyday. I like what I am going to school for and learning and want to continue. In fact, I was so determined to stay on my education path that I went back to school 5 days after giving birth, still in pain, just to sit in for my final (which I got a B on by the way and a B+ for the semester)! That semester I had been denied financial aid in the form of a Pell grant. Luckily, I qualified for a federal Pell grant when it came time for the Spring 2013 semester. I still had to pay for books, supplies etc but what a help!

I am about one year away from graduation, where I can then sit down for the Ophthalmic State Boards Exam in New Jersey, to obtain my license and become an Optician. I chose this career, as it is what I helped my husband study towards for years and I knew a lot of it going in because of this... and more recently, I chose to keep with it and finish school and combat it full time upon becoming a mother. I have a wonderful family support system (my husband's side) to help with childcare when I'm at school and he's at work so those costs are covered and not a problem. However, between the books, and the lab fees, the tuition itself and especially the gas to get there.... our paycheck to paycheck family (and his family who does not have the money to pitch in) is finding it hard to send me to school. I didn't mention that he still attends part time and he is an apprentice in the field.

My goal.... that I am asking you to fund, even if you only have a few dollars to spare, is that I would like to raise enough money to cover the gas, the books, and 1/2 of the tuition for each semester.... Pell grant only pays about 1/2. Each semester by the way, being Fall 2013 (in a couple of weeks) and Spring 2014. My expected graduation date is Winter 2014 and I am SO EAGER to get there... and to have a great career to give my daughter everything that my husband never had while growing up (his family came over from Hungary), and be able to have a Mom that can spend time with her daughter, not having to work 2 minimum wage jobs to support the family, along with what my husband would be working.

I am asking for this help now, after applying for multiple overnight jobs (and getting turned down) and after raising what I could on eBay from selling unneeded household items and outgrown baby clothes... needless to say I barely came up on $35 doing so. I really do need the help and I really would appreciate whatever you could give. I'm sorry to ask if you are a parent who has already sent their son or daughter through college.... they are lucky in that case... I have received ZERO support from my parents since I moved out at 18. I did attend school on my own dimes for Graphic Arts and Design and had 4 years in the sign industry, but wound up unemployed in 2008 when the stocks plunged and businesses were doing horrible, and I got laid off. This is my second shot at a career and although my inlaws do not have the means to send me to school (they wish they could) and my parents don't support me, I am hoping that anyone who reads this and finds that I am a worthy cause full of good intentions, could.

I'm setting a $2800 goal ($1400 per semester between gas, books, ophthalmic supplies (eyeglass tools) and well, the 1/2 of the tuition itself that's not covered by the Pell Grant I qualified for).

Heck, if I can even get up to $1,000 I will be smiling from ear to ear, or 500 or $250. I just need some form of help however much that might be.

My family appreciates your help and your thoughtfulness. I even appreciate your best wishes if you cannot donate. Thank you for reading.

-Krystina, Andrew and Lillith