Darrah's Spelman College Fund

*Special thanks to my sister, Faatimah, for organizing this GoFundMe on my behalf and helping me transfer the funds to my bank account!  

For those generous donors who are interested in contributing to additional needs (travel/moving expenses, food, emergency expenses, etc.), please feel free to contact me.

Update: 4/14/2022

Hi all! I just had a conversation with my college counselor about the large gap between the cost of attendance and the aid I received from Spelman College.  Here are the costs below:

Estimated Cost of Attendance - $49,951.00/yr
Grants and Scholarships I Received From Spelman - $7,545.00/yr  (this leaves a gap of 42,406.00/yr)

I've written Spelman a letter of appeal, but there is no guarantee that that will reduce my gap. I am still waiting to hear back from numerous scholarships, but I need as much help as I can get from you all. If you could continue to donate and/or share, that would be immensely helpful in reducing my financial aid gap, so that I can attend my number #1 college choice. 

Feel free to donate through Venmo as well: @darrah-blackwell

More Info:

Hi! My name is Darrah Blackwell and I have recently been accepted into my top school, Spelman College, as a first-year undergraduate student!

Learning how to navigate predominantly white schools as a Black woman has been an obstacle because I’ve always felt like an outsider, who is striving to not be treated as one. I would constantly feel it to be difficult to find a space where I felt comfortable and supported by my peers and teachers. This has encouraged me to seek post-secondary education at the #1 Historically Black institution, Spelman College, where the community will always be there to affirm my identity.

 

I've received my financial aid package and was worried when I found out how much my family and I had to come up with for me to attend. $5,000 is my starting point. However, I hope to increase, given how expensive the cost of attendance is. Ever since I've received my acceptance, I've applied to numerous scholarships from sites like UNCF, Sunflower Initiative Foundation, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and many more. I've also made many connections with past Spelman alumni and future students joining me in the Class of 2026.

 

Coming from a low-income background, I am both the first in my family to seek post-secondary education and one of the few Black women from my high school in years to apply and enroll at an HBCU. Despite living in Princeton and attending Princeton High School, my family does not have the level of affluence and means of the average Princeton family. With how big my financial aid gap is, I am hoping this GoFundMe can help. This experience is frightening, but also exciting for me because I’ll be able to join a legacy of Black women with amazing leadership skills. As a catalyst for change within my own high school community, I understand the importance of mentorship and advocacy. I am eager to be a part of a sisterhood that welcomes me with open arms, where we can relish in one another’s black girl magic! I am excited to get to know determined, like-minded Black women and learn about their own experiences as we create black excellence together. These funds will allow me to break the stigma around attending HBCUs in my community and help other Black youth understand that financial gaps don’t have to be a barrier and stressor in applying to HBCUs. With these funds, I will be able to mitigate the cost of Spelman for my family and I, so that I can, as Spelman's motto says, "make a choice to change the world" beyond what I’ve done so far within my school community as an advocate and mentor. 

All donations and funds will go towards Spelman-related costs and tuition.

Feel free to share with family and friends! Thank you so much for the support! All funds/donations are greatly appreciated!