Get Sophia Back to University
Donation protected
This is my daughter, Sophia. 
She is 21 years old and is a student at University of Oregon. She has a bone disorder called Osteogenesis Imperfecta that causes her bones to fracture and results in her being very small.
We took this picture in the spring, when we were visiting her in the dorm. She's pretty happy at Oregon, where she's studying linguistics. She's got my mother's ear for languages.
Unfortunately, she may not be able to go back this fall. We've got the costs mostly covered for school and housing for the upcoming school year and going forward thanks to a combination of financial aid, loans, and contributions from her dad and me. However, there is an outstanding balance at the university that we were not aware of until Monday of this week.
That outstanding balance is preventing Sophia from being able to register for school.
An entity (who shall remain nameless) who had committed to paying for her Spring 2015 term at Oregon failed to do so, and did not inform us that they weren't paying her Spring 2015 bill, and Sophia is stuck. Now the entity has informed us that, due to unforeseen circumstances on their end, they will not be able to pay what they had promised Sophia they would pay. And despite our careful planning for the upcoming school year, unless this overdue balance is paid, Sophia will have to quit college.
Getting to University of Oregon was a difficult journey. She attended University of Iowa for a year, and then moved to Oregon with us when her dad took a job in Portland. After a year of community college, where she took general education classes so she wouldn't fall behind, she had a fantastic year at Oregon, maintaining a solid B average, and is more than halfway to reaching her Bachelor's degree. She is determined to finish this degree, because she knows that without it, she has no chance of supporting herself.
Fractures and surgeries sometimes interfered with her childhood education, and snow and ice impeded her wheelchair when she attended school in Iowa, but this is by far the most frustrating obstacle of all. Had we known the entity would fail to fulfill their promise back in the spring, we would have done what needed to be done to pay the bill at the time.
Instead, we are faced with less than a month to put together money for a rather large school bill--in addition to paying first and last-month's rent on Sophia's first apartment, acquiring the adaptive kitchen equipment she will need to cook for herself, and obtaining a rental power wheelchair to use while she's on campus. Money was squeaky-tight already, and this bill is impossible to pay in such a short time. Her dad is investigating cashing in his retirement, but since he's only been with the company two years, there isn't much in that account.
And that's why I'm asking for the full amount (plus a cushion for the fees for this crowdsourcing website). We don't know yet what the answer will be from his company, and time is ticking away.
Please help us get Sophia back to university so she can complete the education she's worked so hard to achieve. Any assistance would be amazing. Thanks for reading the whole thing, and thank you for your support.
She is 21 years old and is a student at University of Oregon. She has a bone disorder called Osteogenesis Imperfecta that causes her bones to fracture and results in her being very small.
We took this picture in the spring, when we were visiting her in the dorm. She's pretty happy at Oregon, where she's studying linguistics. She's got my mother's ear for languages.
Unfortunately, she may not be able to go back this fall. We've got the costs mostly covered for school and housing for the upcoming school year and going forward thanks to a combination of financial aid, loans, and contributions from her dad and me. However, there is an outstanding balance at the university that we were not aware of until Monday of this week.
That outstanding balance is preventing Sophia from being able to register for school.
An entity (who shall remain nameless) who had committed to paying for her Spring 2015 term at Oregon failed to do so, and did not inform us that they weren't paying her Spring 2015 bill, and Sophia is stuck. Now the entity has informed us that, due to unforeseen circumstances on their end, they will not be able to pay what they had promised Sophia they would pay. And despite our careful planning for the upcoming school year, unless this overdue balance is paid, Sophia will have to quit college.
Getting to University of Oregon was a difficult journey. She attended University of Iowa for a year, and then moved to Oregon with us when her dad took a job in Portland. After a year of community college, where she took general education classes so she wouldn't fall behind, she had a fantastic year at Oregon, maintaining a solid B average, and is more than halfway to reaching her Bachelor's degree. She is determined to finish this degree, because she knows that without it, she has no chance of supporting herself.
Fractures and surgeries sometimes interfered with her childhood education, and snow and ice impeded her wheelchair when she attended school in Iowa, but this is by far the most frustrating obstacle of all. Had we known the entity would fail to fulfill their promise back in the spring, we would have done what needed to be done to pay the bill at the time.
Instead, we are faced with less than a month to put together money for a rather large school bill--in addition to paying first and last-month's rent on Sophia's first apartment, acquiring the adaptive kitchen equipment she will need to cook for herself, and obtaining a rental power wheelchair to use while she's on campus. Money was squeaky-tight already, and this bill is impossible to pay in such a short time. Her dad is investigating cashing in his retirement, but since he's only been with the company two years, there isn't much in that account.
And that's why I'm asking for the full amount (plus a cushion for the fees for this crowdsourcing website). We don't know yet what the answer will be from his company, and time is ticking away.
Please help us get Sophia back to university so she can complete the education she's worked so hard to achieve. Any assistance would be amazing. Thanks for reading the whole thing, and thank you for your support.
Organizer
Meg Currell
Organizer
Portland, OR