<p>After sending in my application, I received an offer of admission, and academic and leadership scholarships from Ithaca College in New York. These awards amount to 75 % of the total cost of fees and tuition at Ithaca College. The scholarship allows me entry into the Exploratory Program in the School of Humanities and Sciences for undergraduate studying in September 2006. </p>
<p>The only hindrance is the finance. The economic situation in Zimbabwe makes procuring foreign currency extremely difficult. The cost is a heavy burden upon my parents who have five children. My parents are self- employed and run their own small businesses.</p>
<p>After carefully reviewing our circumstances it became evident that bridging the gap of $10105 plus the airfare to the U.S. would be extremely difficult.</p>
<p>· The official bank rate is $1USD = $100 000ZWD however almost all businesses function on the parallel market which is approximately $1USD =$300 000 due to a countrywide shortage of forex.
· Inflation is at 1300% and interest on bank loans is as much as 800%.
· My 3 siblings school fees now total approximately 600 million Zimbabwean dollars. The fees are paid per trimester and due to the inflation, increase all the time.
· My parents owe $10000USD in outstanding university fees for my eldest sister.
· The dramatic devaluation of Zimbabwean currency has set the weekly food basket at an average of $50 000 000.
· Airlines are not accepting Zimbabwean currency (British Airways for example: approx $1800USD 1 way). The travel agencies that do quote charges over double the British Airways quotation for a one-way ticket.
· Waitig lists for loans in Zimbabwean Banks go back to November. We may only be able to get one next year and this will not allow me to secure a student visa for August 2006 entry. Due to the inflation, one always loses money. If we did take out a loan in time to the value of, let's say $2000 dollars; within two weeks that money would be about $1500 US dollars due to devaluation.</p>
<p>I have written to organizations but have heard nothing, I am not eligible for any more aid from Ithaca. I have sent messages to Oprah. I am sending appeals to newspapers in the hope that they will print my appeal, but I am still waiting for something to happen. I am also running out of time to get my student visa</p>
<p>I have an overriding passion for media, writing, communications and art, and I would like to forge a career centred upon these disciplines. I will succeed. I would just like to ask anyone who has any suggestions or anyone who can help me to please e-mail me. Thank you so much for your time.</p>
<p>I'm in no way an expert in this, however, if Ithaca is covering 75% then you could do work/study or take out loans to cover the rest. Then, instead of asking your parents to pay them, you could wait until you are done with school and pay the loans with the salary of your job. I'm under the belief that student loans here in the US have very low interest rates, so you could probably do that just fine.</p>
<p>Also, your parents could take out a loan to pay your ticket over here. Then, you can take a part-time with work/study and send them the money so they can start paying back the loan to avoid the huge interest rates.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I think you should investigate programs in your own country. Most African nations have programs in place that will pay for a portion of college if the students promises to return to that country and work for an amount of time. </p>
<p>I knew a girl who did this under a Zimbabwean program who started college in 1998 - so this info is not too out of date.</p>
<p>Did you not want to go to any colleges in your own country? Did you apply to any Canadian universities - they sometimes have different programs for international financial aid. </p>
<p>Good luck - I would suggest thinking about contacting Ithaca and see sbout deferring your admission for 1 year - stating your financial situation. This will give you a year to work and save some money to defray some of the expense.</p>
<p>I agree with Magsmom. I don't know why anyone would come all the way from Africa to study media, writing and art at Ithaca College.</p>
<p>While Ithaca is a good second tier American college, there's nothing so extraordinary about Ithaca College to make it worth the kind of cost and effort that you'd need to do to go there. In addition, the fields that you are considering are relatively low paying fields. Why go into debt and move to a distant new country (a very cold region of a new country at that) in order to take a curriculum that's not likely to pay off? If you're planning on returning home, it's hard for me to imagine that people in Zimbabwe will be so impressed by Ithaca College to pay you what you'd need to have your hard work at Ithaca economically pay off for you.</p>
<p>Can't you study those fields in Africa? For instance, I do know that there are some good journalism programs in South Africa including one place that's affiliated with Poynter Institute, a very respected journalism professional development institution in the U.S. Is there any way that you could study media, writing and art there? Seems it would be far easier and affordable.</p>
<p>Yes, 75% scholarship is great, but there's no reason you NEED to go to Ithaca for your degree. Instead, you could complete your degree at a different school that met your financial needs, either in the US or not. That way you can get your degree and move on to a better grad school with more money.</p>
<p>That being said...get a job.</p>