Transgender First Scholarship
I am thinking now about some of the obstacles that face trans people thinking about going to or returning to college. I did not come out until I was nearly 30 and I don't think I really could have considered going back to school until I actually knew who I was much better and transitioning was part of that. So, on the one hand, approaching a new challenge like going to college in my 30s felt small with early transition behind me. But in other ways, it is stressful or scary.
Before starting my first semester at WCC this fall, it had been many years (thanks to the pandemic) since I spent a lot time in larger crowds of majority cis people, in a slightly more "formal" setting like a school. It's made me aware of my appearance and my ability to pass in a way I hadn't before. I'm simply being percieved much more regularly by cis people and one of the greatest challenges for me being trans is accepting the reality that I cannot know how any other person is percieving me. It can be really scary, especially if you don't pass, to go out into public settings at all, let alone putting yourself out there to get to know your professors and peers and really engage with learning. At least once a day when I'm on campus I think to myself while using the men's restroom "Will this be the day that *something* happens?". And luckily, so far, I have not had any issues at my campus. But just that fear that it could can be so overwhelming, I can imagine it making college feel like a completely impossible thing for many trans people.
I have many friends who are places in their lives and transitions where even thought they would love to go back to school various social issues and financial barriers keep it out of reach. Many trans people, like myself, live in poverty and suffer from mental illneess, which obviously makes it hard for anyone to imagine going back to school. One element of being trans that creates a lot of distress is the feeling of always being on display or always on the precipice of being on display and those types of feelings can really take over in a school setting. For many of us, schools are sites of violence and social pressure. All of these elements can make going to or returning to college very challenging for trans people.