Minahil is a 23-year-old girl based in Lahore, Pakistan. Living in a society where marriage is given priority over attaining good education and career for girls, Minahil hopes to fight for her right to education and for autonomy over her life. Recently she was accepted into the Illinois State University MBA program as an international student.
She was awarded a merit based Graduate Assistantship in research that waives off the tuition fees worth almost 14000 US dollars. Despite this massive assistance, she still has the obstacle of a mandatory fee worth 2000$ per semester, flight, and the Visa application fee.
All her savings are only enough to help her get a visa and her conservative parents would rather get her married than send her for higher education. Her parents have told her that she can go to the university if she can prove she has enough funding to sustain herself there . They know she cannot manage to do that on her own hence they’ve given this option so she would stay in Pakistan and they could get her married. For someone who has no generational wealth and no family financial support, this seemingly impossible amount is the only thing that stands between her and her dream to do a masters and help her community back. She needs your help with the rest of the mandatory fees of her 3 semesters.
Last year, her dad lost his job due to the pandemic and her family is still struggling with financial problems. Her father has a low-paying, temporary job that is barely enough to get the bills paid and monthly grocery. And he has never been able to earn enough and save for his daughters’ education. And as of now, her mom works in a school but doesn’t earn enough to save this much amount to send her off to study for her masters.
She’s had a stellar academic record with a 3.92 CGPA and a gold medal awarded to her for attaining the highest CGPA in the entire batch. She was also placed in the Principal’s Honor List.
Your small donation can help her change the course of her life. She is turning to GoFundMe as a last resort because there is no way for her to change her financial status in time. She has exhausted all of her options and is now looking for your help with the payment.