Help Josue pay for college!

This is Josue. He just graduated from high school in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is intent on attending college in the US, the only student in his class to do so. Over the past six months, I've been fortunate to mentor Josue. Spending time with Josue has become a weekly highlight for me. He's smart, kind, funny, thoughtful and working hard towards an opportunity that many of us take for granted. He inspires me.

We worked together to apply to 15 traditional US colleges, but the financial burden and associated logistics proved too great to overcome. Josue spent literally hundreds of hours writing essays, filling out financial aid forms, traveling to other countries to take standardized tests not offered in the Congo. All of this to ultimately wind up empty handed. He took the disappointment in stride, much better than I did. When your life is full of obstacles and hardships, not being able to afford traditional college feels more like a speed bump than an insurmountable obstacle.

Over the past month, we pivoted to a new plan and I worked with Josue on finding alternative education opportunities. After much research, we landed on the Applied Computing Degree from Outlier and Golden Gate University. The full cost of the program (over two years) will be $8,940; tuition for summer semester is $1,788.

Josue started his coursework earlier in May, and when I asked him how it's going so far, he responded with:

"To tell you the truth, this is the first time I’m studying in a super well-organized environment, something I’ve always looked for in my life. From here at home (my old schools) I always wanted to have a well planned schedule, unfortunately the schools probably have nothing to do with the perfect schedule for their students!

That’s why Degrees+ program is the best, the one I’ve always looked for and perhaps that’s why I’m in love with it ! I know I’m still at the beginning, because I only took 2 classes today, (just the preliminaries) and maybe it will be intense over time, but I can say that I love the program... I can’t wait to see how far I’ll get with this program."

If you are compelled to help Josue in his educational journey, please feel free to donate. All collected funds will go directly towards paying Josue's tuition this semester and over the next two years. I will work with Josue to provide those who are interested in periodic updates along his journey.