The following is a letter to the editor from a mom in Erie, Mich., printed on page 4A of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News. It refers to an Associated Press story called “Last minute options” printed on 9B of July 3 print and e-editions of The MEN. Click here for an on-line link and my comments.

Your article in Thursday’s paper concerning last-minute options for college gave me a brief flicker of hope. I went to all the Web sites listed, only to be denied once again. What the article should have included was how to explain to a child who worked diligently to maintain magna cum laude status, scholar athlete status and worked a job, that she won’t be able go to college.

How do I tell her that her scholarship money is not enough and, because the cost of putting groceries on the table and gas in the car has grown faster than our income, I no longer have the credit to be a worthy co-signer for the remainder of her loans? How do I explain the justification of that had she been from a family on welfare or from a divorced home she would have qualified for much more financial aid? If she were an unwed mother, even more aid. How can I teach her to trust a system that doesn’t quite seem fair, a government that’s not working?

No Child Left Behind? I doubt we are the only ones being left in the dust.