My friend is an international student at Mount Holyoke College. She is a community organiser and an important part of MHC’s vibrant community. She joined MHC in 2019 upon hearing about it from a childhood friend who also attended Mount Holyoke. During her first few months of college it was everything she imagined it to be - a safe and diverse space where she could thrive and learn. Unfortunately when the pandemic hit the world shortly after, South Africa went under strict COVID Lockdown Level 5 - nothing except pharmacies and food stores were open - and her family business back home in South Africa began to struggle. 

With finances becoming increasingly more difficult as the global pandemic progressed, the anxiety of knowing whether or not continuing her education at MHC was a possibility became more grave. She stopped receiving money from home and was living off of money from the school’s COVID Safety Net Fund while she was trapped on MHC’s campus, along with a handful of other stranded international students. 

As the months passed, the pressure from Student Financial Services (SFS) to pay the outstanding tuition mounted. As a last resort, and with all her hope, she applied to the school’s COVID-19 Financial Aid Reconsideration. She waited and received an email from the director of Financial Services in the middle of class saying her appeal had been denied and that she had two weeks to either take a leave of absence for the next semester (only if she could pay for Spring 2020’s fees), or withdraw from the college altogether and leave the country or else her visa status would be violated. If there wasn’t enough money to pay for the semester, how did they expect her to fly home in the midst of a raging pandemic in the middle of winter with no financial help? Left with no other option, she withdrew from the College. Having to deal with this, as well as grappling with the unfortunate and sudden news that her grandmother had passed away from COVID-19, understably took a major toll on her mental health. Fortunately, with the help of friends and MHC’s student body she was able to crowdfund, just barely making it home in time.

Upon returning home, she started the process of appealing the Financial Aid Reconsideration denial. SFS  claimed that she had been paying less than she should have been paying - implying that her financial package was lower than it should have been and that her family was not being truthful about their financial situation. After months of going back and forth with SFS and providing even more financial documentation, it was revealed that they had made a callous error on their end, because they did not perform the simple calculation of converting the business’ income in South African Rand to US dollars. To rectify this mistake, SFS has offered her a financial aid package that accounts for the financial woes her family is still going through. 

However, even with this reduced figure, she still needs help to get to school. 

She reached out to SFS to find out if they could tell her how much money she’d need to finish college at MHC and they informed her that they were unable to give an exact figure but that her tuition would not be any higher than what it was before or any lower than the new figure of $6.4k. She is hoping to use the money raised here to pay her outstanding debt of $8.6k, the next academic year’s $6.4k, $1k for the flight to the U.S., and $350 for visa fees. The remainder will serve as savings so that she can continue to pay tuition, get her degree from MHC and go into education. Once she returns to campus she plans on finding work to ensure this doesn’t happen again and she stays stable. This was an incredibly stressful time and it caused both her mental and physical health to deteriorate. She ended up collapsing and being hospitalised in South Hadley, separated from her friends and family. Part of the funds we hope to raise will go towards paying the medical debt she incurred.

Any and all would be deeply appreciated by my friend and her family. No amount is too small! Sharing this in your communities would also go a long long way. Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

Funds will be sent via Western Union and receipts provided upon request.

*we are not revealing the name of this student for privacy reasons.
**these pictures are sideways because we couldn't figure out how to put them upright without being cropped. Apologies for the inconvenience!