Help Arham Get to Grad School in USA

Friends, I'm raising funds to support a young man from my hometown of Karachi continue his education at University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), United States. Let me share his remarkable story:

Muhammad Arham grew up in Malir - an urban slum on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan and is an alumnus of the nonprofit school system, The Citizens Foundation (TCF). His father, a salesman earned $2 a day by purchasing items from a wholesale market and selling them to local shops in the area, making survival a daily challenge.

Arham's parents admitted him and his sister to a TCF school, but at the age of 12, to support his family financially, he started working at a medical store after school, like many children in his neighborhood. His father’s decision to admit Arham to a TCF school was life changing.

Arham says, “My father, a true visionary, rightly understood the importance of education and ensured that all of us received an education, irrespective of our circumstances.”

After completing matriculation (Grade 9 & 10) from TCF, he pursued Intermediate education and secured 5th position in the Intermediate board exams among 18,000 students throughout Karachi. Subsequently, he earned admission to the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi with a 100% scholarship after remarkable entry-test performance. Currently almost finishing up final semester, Arham is pursuing a Bachelor of Computer Science, showcasing a strong academic background. He also achieved an exceptional score of 336/340 in GRE, placing him among the top 5% of test-takers globally.

Grateful for his journey, Arham has also assisted numerous TCF students in getting admissions to top-tier universities in Pakistan. He also mentors students from his community for higher education.

Arham’s story doesn’t end here. To pursue his goal for a Masters in Computer Science (MSCS), he applied to several colleges including University of Illinois Chicago (https://cs.uic.edu/graduate/ms-program/) and was accepted for the Fall of 2024.

However, the graduate school at UIC has a policy of not offering full scholarships to international students, which makes it impossible for him to pursue his dreams. He would be eligible to apply for some external scholarships in his second semester later on, as well as for graduate research and teaching assistantship.

Now, he is in need of 16,000 USD (22,000 CAD) for first year's tuition & fees.

Arham has reached out to several Pakistani abroad through his Alumni networking without much success so far. As a conscientious young man, he wants to pursue his career in Computer Science field at a reputable university in USA and down the road, this unique opportunity will not only improve his personal and family outcomes, but he would be a means to support of number of talented Pakistani individuals from poor background academically as well as financially, thus supporting him would be a Sadaqah Jariyah Insha’Allah. He is in fact willing to work full time throughout his education to help pay off his debt, but he needs to actually get there first to do so.

Let us all prove that everyone can access a world-class education, regardless of which family background one happens to be born.

So let's help get Arham there! He's earned it.

Note: I'll be providing regular updates on the campaign's progress in the update section below.

You can reach out to him at: +92-315-8156996 (WhatsApp) for his further details and story.