Chapter Text
Scholarship Renewal Decision for Academic Year 20XX-20XX
From: [email protected]; [email protected]
Date: 15th May 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
As you may be aware, the Northern California Institute of Biosciences & Physics (NCIBP) offers a wide range of student scholarships across many levels of study and subject areas, funded through the generosity of our benefactors and charitable donations.
In the current economic climate, NCIBP is facing significant financial pressures, and an ambitious programme of efficiencies has begun. As part of this process, the Trustee Board has made the difficult decision to reduce the number of advanced postgraduate scholarships available. They felt it necessary, in this instance, to prioritise undergraduate scholarship provision.
We regret to inform you that your scholarship, awarded in support of your application to pursue doctoral study in molecular biology, will not be renewed for the upcoming academic year [20XX–20XX].
We understand that this will be disappointing news. We encourage you to explore alternative funding options should you wish to continue your studies at Northern California Institute of Biosciences & Physics.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Sincerely,
Fiona Harringey
Head of Admissions
Northern California Institute of Biosciences & Physics
400 Oyster Point Boulevard,
South San Francisco,
CA 94080
United States
Office: (415) 555‑4821
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Credit Application with Pacific Crest Bank
From: [email protected]
Date: 20th May 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
Thank you for your recent application for a personal loan with Pacific Crest Bank. We appreciate the time you took to provide the necessary information and for considering us for your financial needs.
After careful review, we regret to inform you that we are unable to approve your loan application at this time. This decision was based on a number of factors assessed during our standard credit evaluation process, including affordability considerations and current lending criteria.
We understand that this outcome may be disappointing. Please be assured that our decision does not prevent you from applying again in the future, should your circumstances change. You may also wish to obtain a copy of your credit report from a recognised credit reference agency to ensure all information held is accurate and up to date.
If you have any questions about this decision or would like to discuss alternative financial options that may be available to you, our customer support team would be happy to assist.
Thank you once again for your interest in Pacific Crest Bank.
Sincerely,
Jack Burton
Senior Credit Analyst
Pacific Crest Bank
401 Market Street,
San Francisco,
CA 94105
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Course Application Extension
From: [email protected]
Date: 27th May 20XX
Hi Ryland,
Hope you are well,
I’ve managed to secure a month-long extension for you for your application to study molecular biology for your PhD here at NCIBP, the deadline is now June 30th.
Your proposed project looking into whether H2O is necessary for life in the universe is both ambitious and intriguing - certainly something I can get behind as your academic supervisor.
I know the news to scrap the doctoral scholarships is very disappointing, I really hope you can get the funds you need for the course,
Good luck!!
Joe
Joe Sullivan
Academic Supervisor
Molecular Biology Faculty
Northern California Institute of Biosciences and Physics
South San Francisco,
CA 94080
United States
www.ncibp.edu
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Application for Academic Funding
From: [email protected]
Date: 29th May 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
Thank you for your application to California Science & Research Fellowship Council (CSRFC) for academic funding for your doctoral study at Northern California Institute of Biosciences and Physics.
Unfortunately, at this time we are unable to release funds for studies that aren’t related to our 5 areas of research interest.
These areas of research interest do renew annually so we advise applying again in the next academic year, please check our website for further information.
Kind regards
Ellie Ho
Senior Outreach Officer
California Science & Research Fellowship Council (CSRFC)
Please consider the environment before printing
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Application for Academic Funding
From: [email protected]
Date: 30th May 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding funding support from United States Academic Advancement Trust for your proposed course of study at Northern California Institute of Biosciences and Physics.
After reviewing your request, we regret to inform you that we are unable to consider your application. The closing date for submissions for this funding cycle has now passed, and we are unable to accept applications outside the published timeframe.
We understand that this may be disappointing news. You are very welcome to apply during our next funding round, which will open in [20XX], and full details of eligibility and deadlines will be available on our website.
If you have any questions or would like guidance on preparing a future application, please feel free to contact our team.
Thank you again for your interest in the United States Academic Advancement Trust,
Sincerely,
Miles Kaur
Program Officer
US Academic Advancement Trust,
1800 Constitution Plaza, Washington,
DC 20005
Office: (202) 555‑7394
Email: [email protected]
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Application for Academic Funding
From: [email protected]
Date: 2nd June 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
Thank you for your application, we regret to inform you that we are unable to meet your request at this time……
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Application for Academic Funding
From: [email protected]
Date: 5nd June 20XX
Dear Mr Grace,
Thank you for your interest in applying for funding, we are sorry to say….
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Application for Academic Funding
From: [email protected]
Date: 7th June 20XX
Dear Mr Grace
Thank you for your enquiry. I’m afraid we aren’t currently offering….
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Ryland Grace shut the lid of his laptop with slightly more force than he meant, but honestly, he was this close to throwing it out of the window anyway, so what did it matter?
It’s not even my laptop, it belongs to the faculty.
Pushing his glasses aside he pressed the heels of his palms into his tired eyes to massage them.
Rejection after rejection after rejection.
It wasn’t looking good.
Not good at all.
He’d been reliant on the scholarship funding all through his undergraduate and postgrad courses, with it now no longer being offered there was just no way he could afford the tuition fees by himself, not to mention rent and living expenses on top of that.
Ryland already survived on ramen, there wasn’t much money he could save by simply starving.
No one was willing to give or lend him the money for five to six years of study, because understandably it was a heck of a lot money – easily fifty thousand dollars- and at this moment in time he had no good way to pay any investment back.
Ryland Grace was twenty-two year old student with a part time job, currently sat on his bed in a shitty student accommodation on campus and was looking at being homeless and with no career prospects within a fortnight.
When do I panic? Is it now?
Now seemed as good a time as any to panic, yes.
He slumped down onto his bed and pulled a pillow over his face to scream into it.
It didn’t really make him feel better.
All Ryland had ever wanted to be was a scientist. Ever since he’d found out what a scientist was- just someone who loved learning- he’d been focused on that. He never wanted to stop learning.
And now, at this stage, of embarking on his PhD, he got to choose, really choose what he wanted to learn about. He set his own topic and did his own research, and at the end get some cool letters to go in front of his name.
It felt so cruel now to get so far but fall at the last bit. He wasn’t even failing on his own merit. It was for something so punitive as being poor.
He thought back to being a kid, how he’d learnt how to make bug boxes from instructions on the back of cereal packets. How he’d crouched in the schoolyard with a magnifying glass “borrowed” from the science classroom. How he’d been awestruck in high-school because they had proper microscopes in the lab, and the fact the school had a lab.
He’d read every factual book he could get his hands on - trips to the library had been a highlight. And once he had access to the internet, well, there was no stopping him. Ryland was like a sponge, just soaking it all up.
Even when home life had been difficult, he’d always had a thirst and appetite for knowledge, and learning about the world and how it had worked had been an escape.
His twin brother Colt had always been Ryland’s biggest supporter, sure he’d called him a nerd and teased him for being more into science and maths than girls, but if anyone had ever dared pick on him, Colt had defended him. He stayed late afterschool when Ryland had science clubs, so they could walk home together. He gave him his library card so Ryland could check out double the allotted amount of books – being identical had its perks! Colt even once drove Ryland three hours to a space convention because Ryland hadn’t got his license yet and couldn’t get there otherwise.
He and Colt had never had much, but they had had each other. And growing up in foster-care, they’d had to become very resourceful, when they’d had essentially no resources.
In bed, Ryland scrunched his face up and tried not to cry, he always got a little teary when he thought of his brother.
He’d worked so hard to just get even to this point. Whilst other students had had summer vacations, Ryland had worked two jobs to save up enough for his first laptop, a second-hand one from a computer repair shop, and done extra studying just to keep up with his peers who could afford personal tutors.
Whilst his graduation class had celebrated their grades, Ryland and Colt had celebrated his scholarship confirmation. Colt even gave him one hundred dollars he’d saved so Ryland could get himself supplies for moving out of their foster-carers house and into student accommodation – things like a proper suitcase to put his clothes in, new bedding and a microwave to have in his room to cook food in.
Ryland sighed into his pillow. Colt didn’t know; it had been a few days since the news of the scholarship funding withdrawal. Ryland hadn’t wanted to tell him until he had a plan worked out, but he was running out of options, and he might need to crash on Colt’s sofa for a while if he couldn’t magic up fifty thousand dollars from somewhere.
It wasn’t fair. This scholarship was supposed to last him until the end of his studies, how could the university just turn on him like this?
It felt like betrayal. He’d already given four years of his life to this college. He had the best grades out of his cohort, he already helped out with some of the basic teaching, doing prep for lectures for his professors and helping grade freshman papers.
And, he worked for them! His part time cleaning job was on campus. He did the horrendous early morning shift from four in the morning until seven, cleaning the classrooms and offices for a number of faculties and the stuff he found……
Ryland shuddered and rolled over in bed, trying to think of anything else.
Timing wasn’t on his side It was too late to apply to another college for the next academic year. The news had come far, far too late. Besides, he couldn’t afford to move anywhere where accommodation on campus wasn’t included.
Ryland didn’t have a back-up plan. Getting his doctorate was his plan. He’d never considered that they’d pull the scholarships.
What am I gonna do?
Where am I gonna go?
Colt would probably put him up, let him sleep on his sofa if he needed, but he’d need some advance warning. Ryland should probably ring him.
Fishing his battered iphone out of his pocket - the model was old when he’d got it second-hand, it was almost a relic now – Ryland dialled his brother.
Surprisingly Colt picked up after a few rings, usually he was far too busy being on set or on a night out, or hungover.
‘Ry, what’s up?’
‘Colt I’m freaking out-‘ Ryland blurted.
‘Okay- woah, what’s going on? Are you okay?’
‘No, they’ve cancelled my scholarship, and I can’t get any funding and if I can’t get the money I can’t do my doctorate and I’ll get kicked out of my room here and I’ve go nowhere to go-‘
‘Okay, okay slow down, slow down, Jesus. Okay, so what they just cancelled your scholarship?’
‘Er, Yeah’
‘What the fuck!? They can just do that!? What about the whole “oh you can study whatever your like for as long as you like?” What’s the fucking point of being a poor but genius kid if you can’t get a scholarship?’
Ryland sighed, ‘I don’t know, I’m not gonna sit here and defend the university. I just- I- I literally don’t know what to do. I applied for a loan at the bank and I got rejected.’
‘That’s bullshit! You need this money, it’s for education! Well, fuck ‘em, I bet there’s charities and stuff that fund students right? You could try applying there?’
‘I have been,’ explained Ryland and he mentioned all the places he’d got rejected from.
Colt, predictably got even angrier. Ryland wondered if this call had been a mistake, whilst he appreciated his twin’s righteous anger on his behalf it wasn’t actually helping the situation and was increasing Ryland’s heart rate.
‘-Colt’ he said, interrupting his brother mid-tirade, ‘I love that you’re angry for me, but it’s not helping. I kinda just rang to ask if I could come crash on your sofa for a little while if I can’t get something worked out.’
‘Bro, you can stay in my bed,’ said Colt, quick off the bat, ‘I can stay at Meg’s, she’s the girl I’m seeing, the one I told you about, the one from the costume department. Of course you can stay over, as long as you need.’
Ryland breathed a sigh of relief, finally some good news, a safety net. He supposed most other people had those, able to rely on parents or inheritance, but he and Colt? They’d never had that, until now.
‘You know-‘ added Colt, and Ryland could hear his brother’s brain cells whirring, ‘What you need is like a sponsor, you know? Like a patron. Meg has this rich uncle who’s been putting her through drama school and tailoring classes and everything. You need someone like that, someone who’ll financially back-you. Are there any rich professors who like you?’
Ryland spluttered, ‘I cant just- Colt! I cant ask my professors to pay for my schooling, it’s at least fifty-thousand dollars!’
‘It’s an investment!’ cried Colt, ‘Surely, keeping you in the college, you’ll bring them so much fame and money when you discover some new cell or something.’
Bless Colt and his idealistic and naïve way of viewing academia. Ryland almost didn’t want to break it to his brother that firstly, professors weren’t going to use their personal funds to give him a loan and secondly, nobody in academia gave a rats ass about anyone else, it was cutthroat and brutal.
‘I think it’s unlikely,’ he said in response.
‘Well, look, I think there’s still options-’
Rapidly dwindling options.
‘You’ve gotta keep trying Ry, don’t give up just yet. Of course you can come to mine if it doesn’t work out. But it always has so far. I believe in you, you’ll find a way bro.‘
Don’t cry, don’t cry.
‘Thanks,’ said Ryland thickly.
‘I better go, I think I need to go get some people coffee or some shit. Keep me updated yeah?’
And with assurance that he would, Ryland ended the call.
He sat back up in bed.
Right. Come on. Gotta keep trying.
He opened his laptop again.
How to get money from rich people if you are poor. Immediately it threw up a bunch of sites, such as charitable foundations and trusts.
Okay, I can work with this. Just gotta throw the net out a little wider is all.
Ryland made a note of the top ten places that give out charitable grants, two he’d already applied for so he was down to eight. Well, eight was good. He spent the morning sending off emails, cooked himself yet another bowl of ramen for lunch and sat back down at his laptop.
The next thing was to try crowdfunding platforms, but as soon as he started looking on those sites, Ryland’s heart sank. These were for like desperate people, really really sick people, kids with terminal cancer.
Jesus. What am I doing here?
Yes his situation was bad but it wasn’t dire. He could just you know, take on more shifts at his cleaning job, get a second job, he’d have Colt’s sofa to stay on so he wasn’t going to be homeless. No, he desperately wanted to study his course and get his PhD but it wasn’t this level of crisis.
So, the crowdfunding platforms were ditched, what was next.
Sweet like Sugar -Become a baby today!
Holy cow, he was now at the sugar baby websites. Ryland exited the internet browser in lightning speed. Heart racing.
I’m not that desperate.
He was not at the point where he’d sell his body for money, good grief, that was- well look, good for people who are into that sort of thing but not for me.
Yet, his brain supplied, he kind of already did sell his body -he cleaned part time. That was trading his energy and time and physical exertion for money. How was it different?
It’s different. It’s VERY different.
And, his brain added, how was this different to a sponsor, like Colt said? This was a form of sponsorship.
A form I am not interested in.
With effort, Ryland put the thought from his mind and went back to the earlier list of charities and non-governmental organizations he could approach for funding and spent the afternoon writing more emails.
As the week progressed, he got rejection after rejection after rejection, the rest? No answer.
His academic supervisor Joe Sullivan called him mid-way through the week to check-in on him. Ryland put on a fake cheerful tone and lied, saying he was feeling optimistic about getting the money needed to pay the college.
‘Oh great!’ replied Joe brightly, ‘You’ll just need to let the faculty know once the funding is secured. Let me know if you need anything from me at all. This whole situation sucks Ryland but I’m rooting for you!’
‘Thanks!’ said Ryland blithely, wishing fervently that Joe's backing could include fifty-thousand dollars.
He ended the call and put his head in his hands, elbows resting on his desk.
It’s not happening. I need to get real.
He could try again next year. Maybe there’d be other opportunities? He could work for the next year or so and save up?
Yeah, and how long will it take me to save fifty-thousand dollars on minimum wage jobs?
He had ten days left. Then he’d have to give up the room, give up the cheap coffee, give up his fricken laptop. He’d be packing his bags and moving to Colt’s sofa.
Colt’s words of ‘You’ll find a way bro’ echoed in Ryland’s mind.
There was a way. He just needed to figure it out.
How far was he willing to go to achieve his dream?
Ryland stared at his laptop for a long minute.
Then he was opening the lid and -opening a new tab in incognito mode – he began doing what he did best and that was research.
Okay, so it turned out his initial impression of what entailed a ‘sugar relationship’ to be was quite two-dimensional. Sure, the majority of sites were aimed at matching young, attractive women who were over the age of eighteen but looked younger than that with older, wealthier men, but there were a few that operated differently.
Take this site he was currently on for example: it portrayed itself as elite matchmaking for persons of different economic statuses. And a large part of it didn’t seem to be sexual! That was news to Ryland, he’d assumed the whole point was essentially for the ‘sugar baby’ to swap sexual favours for money. But it turns out that there were many other types of relationships where finances were involved.
Most, Ryland wasn’t interested in, anything sexual, anything involving humiliation or degradation was quickly skipped over or filtered out. Until he came to an aspect of financial control which involved the person with the larger income gifting money with certain stipulations, such as the money had to be spent to the exact amount or be spent in a certain time frame or be spent on a particular product or service.
I could do that. I could spend someone’s money.
The aim seemed to be that the wealthier party had an element of control and that was what was satisfying for them.
This is honestly not much different to applying for academic funding thought Ryland. There’s so many stipulations there anyway!
If he did this and it didn’t work out, then Ryland at least felt like he could honestly say he’d tried everything to achieve his doctorate.
Ryland’s brain conjured an image of him in the lab and his colleagues asking him how he’d secured the funding “oh well you know, I just signed away my financial freedom that’s all”. Well, at least there wouldn’t be interest like if he’d got a loan from the bank.
Silver linings.
Well, honestly, the more he was thinking about it, the more this kind of seemed like the answer to his problem.
So, he began filling in the form. They wanted a lot of personal details, seemingly for stringent ID verification checks, although he was assured on the form that it was all done discreetly. They wanted a photo, Ryland thanked his lucky stars that Colt actually got a decent one of him last thanksgiving; he looked a little dorky in his festive sweater but his hair had been freshly cut and the angle was flattering and the lighting made his eyes look very blue. It appeared Colt had picked up a few camera tips from working on movies.
After the ID information, the form then wanted information about his financial status.
Broke?
That wasn’t one of the options; this company seemed a little too upmarket to just have a box to tick which said you were poor. Instead, Ryland was asked to give an estimate of his basic annual income…aaaand he didn’t even reach the tax threshold. Plebian enough?
And then, then there was the fun part of the form. They wanted to know about his preferences.
He immediately crossed out anything to do with sex, he hardly wanted sex in a normal setting, nothing about this matchmaking relationship process made the thought any more appealing.
He also declined anything to do with BDSM or degrading kinks, might be good for others, not for me thank you.
He did however hover over the box which asked whether he’d be interested in meeting in person and pursuing companionship.
In the end, he declined. This was going to be purely transactional, money could be sent from anywhere in the world, he didn’t need to meet his- his- what do I call them? Sugar…Parent?
Well, anyway, he didn’t wanna meet them. It’d be easier not to.
In terms of his gender preferences for his -God I need to find a better term- Sponsor? Benefactor? Patron?
Sponsor sounded okay for now.
Right, well, he assumed his sponsor would be male because…well….stereotypes, but honestly, money was money and it would enable him to get the future he wanted so Ryland honestly didn’t care about who it was that was giving the money.
Same with age, he had no qualms, they could be a hundred and he’d take the money.
And finally, at the end there was an open text box, asking for a personal explanation as to what the applicant was seeking from the financial arrangement.
Ryland was well practiced at this now. He’d been writing applications for the past two weeks. He copied over some of the text from his previous applications and tweaked it slightly to make it more relevant for this particular one.
My name is Ryland Grace, and I am currently a postgraduate student at Northern California Institute of Biosciences & Physics, having recently completed a master’s degree in molecular biology. Pursuing a PhD and earning my doctorate in this field has been a dream of mine since I was young, and my academic record reflects the commitment I’ve brought to that ambition. Throughout my studies, I have consistently maintained a 3.9 GPA and have been supported by academic scholarships up to this point.
Due to recent financial pressures within the university, my scholarship has unfortunately been withdrawn, leaving me without the funding required to continue into doctoral study. Although I work part‑time to support my living costs, this income is not sufficient to meet the demands of an intensive PhD research programme.
I am now seeking an economic sponsor who can help alleviate the financial barriers to continuing my academic journey. My aspiration is to specialise in extraterrestrial molecular biology - a field that sits at the frontier of scientific discovery - and to contribute meaningful research to our understanding of life beyond Earth. With the right support, I am determined to complete my postgraduate training and pursue this work at the highest level.
That sounded good enough thought Ryland. He’d cut a lot of the scientific waffle that he normally applied in the applications as to the nature of his studies. He assumed any potential sponsors would not know about molecular biology and so didn’t want to bore them.
He wondered if he could make it a little more persuasive…
Within the boundaries detailed in my application form, I remain open-minded as to the nature of this financial arrangement. Having come from a modest background-
Read: poor
‘-I am more than capable of living within my means, and within a restricted budget. In my spare time I like to spend time in nature and chill with family and friends.
The last part was pushing it a bit but this was essentially a weird sort of dating profile, so he felt the need to add some personality into it.
And a fun fact about me is I love fun facts, the punnier the better!
Oh god, that made him sound so sad! He scrolled up to remove the last sentence but his finger slipped and he accidentally clicked the submit button.
Oh….well.
Nothing he could do about that now.
The next screen on his laptop informed him that his application had now been received and would be reviewed by a member of staff, and he could expect to be contacted within ten days.
Ten days?
He only had ten days left!
Ryland groaned.
He’d got his hopes up. He felt so stupid.
Of course some sugar daddy/mommy site wasn’t going to be the answer to his prayers.
Guess I better start packing my bags.