Hello everyone,

My name is Allegria, and I'm a first gen/working class student from Burundi.

I was admitted to a creative writing MFA at Columbia University, and I have accepted my offer.

I moved to the United States five years ago for college, and I earned a bachelor's degree economics with cum laude honors. That experience changed my life, but writing has always been the way I’ve made sense of the world.

My work centers on family, inheritance, migration, memory, and the quiet ways people carry what came before them. It’s where I return to ask questions I don’t have answers to, and where I try to build something honest out of memory.

Being admitted to Columbia feels both unreal and deeply meaningful. It is an opportunity to take my writing seriously, to grow within a community, and to commit to the work I feel called to do.

At the same time, the financial reality is difficult. I have been awarded a scholarship of $35,000 per year, which I am incredibly grateful for. But the total cost of attendance for my first year is around $90,000, leaving a gap that I cannot cover on my own.

I am taking a leap of faith in accepting this offer. I am choosing to believe in my work and in the possibility that I can make this path real, even without having all the answers yet. I am currently exploring loans, funding opportunities, and every option available to me, but I still need support to make this possible.

This campaign is an attempt to close that gap.

If you are able to contribute, thank you. Truly. Any amount helps.

If you are not in a position to give, sharing this page would mean just as much.

Thank you for reading and for being part of this.