Should you apply for government assistance?
U.S. News & World Report: Rob Fischer, associate professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and co-director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, said that the government offers assistance to families in many ways—ranging from tax breaks for mortgages to unemployment benefits—so people shouldn’t feel any different about accepting help for needs such as food and health care. “The American ethic is the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality,” he said.