Fund for enrollment fee

My name is Aung San Thein. I am an alumnus from UWC Robert Bosch College. A month ago I got accepted to both Savannah College of Art and Design and Ringling College of Art and Design. Both SCAD and Ringling are great schools. However, due to the financial setback, I was forced to choose SCAD which is cheaper. I received 10,000 USD from Davis UWC scholarship for my study, however, the tuition fees are too high to just pay off with scholarship. I still need 50,000 USD for my tuition fee, study materials, and housing fees. I plan to pay those through work-study programs and private loan programs.

I come from a middle-class family in Myanmar. About fourteen years ago, everything changed for us. Due to my parents’ political ties with the democratic activists, we were forced to take refuge in a refugee camp at the border with Thailand. I spent ten years of my life in the refugee camp until 2016 when the government of Myanmar had changed. When we were back from the refugee camp, my parents restarted a tourism industry which also has been halted for months due to the COVID 19 outbreak.

I am proud of myself that I was able to continue my studies and finish high school against all odds that we faced. After I came back to Myanmar, I had to plan to pursue an international education. I decided to take the General Education Diploma to have an internationally recognized high school diploma. Because the education system in Myanmar does neither recognize the GED nor the high school diploma that I acquired in the refugee camp, I was not able to continue my studies there. So, I looked outside of my country for my higher education. That is when I found out about the United World College program.

In my country, visual art and the study of visual arts are very underrated. There are many unique features in our traditional visual arts, but now they are fading away. My generation is losing this heritage as it is not being carried on. To prevent this from continuing, I want to start a movement in the visual arts to show the world the unique and beautiful features of my culture’s art. Currently, I urgently need a thousand dollars for my enrollment and house reservation fee for the College and my parents cannot support me in their current situation. I sincerely come to you asking for any amount of support possible to be used for my fees.