Hayas's Goat and AUI-S

by Karwan Gaznay

 In the past, there was a king of the villages in Kurdistan. One day the king called the people and said:” I have a goat. I would like to someone borrow my goat and return it with the same weight.” Hayas, who was a resident of the village, said “I can do it.” He brought the goat and bought a wolf. He fed the goat kinds of food that were full of vitamins till evening, yet he showed the big, dangerous wolf to the goat in the evening till morning, so the goat couldn’t get any benefits from the food!! Thus, the goat was in the same weight. When people asked why he did that? Calmly as usual, he said “Goat is my goat, if you think bad, you don’t do that.” When he returned the goat, the goat was the same weight it was taken. Therefore, he was bestowed a wife by the king for doing his job successfully.

Unfortunately, I can say that Hayas’s story applies to AUI-S as well. We have such a unique university with this great curriculum. Also, it has native teachers and many great professors. On the other hand, we have a dangerous problem, which is financial aid.

Financial Aid system reminds me of Mr. Hayas’s wolf. Although there are good services given in this university, the financial aid students are not advantageous. The problem is that the money increases each semester so when we assign an agreement for this year, we also think about next year. How can I pay money foot the next year if it increases? Like Mr. Hayas’s goat when we go to admission, and say that we can’t pay this amount of money, they say you are free you can depart here and go some other places. Our university’s system is like the food of the Mr. Hayas’s goat, and financial aid is like Mr. Hayas’s wolf because when we think about financial aid we are pessimistic and can’t study. Here I direct my speech to the administration I say: Hasn’t the time come for a stable system of financial aid with clear criteria? Don’t the financial aid students have the right to enjoy their studying at AUI-S like the other students?

*Karwan Gaznay is EWPLI 3 students at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani.