Need help to pay for college tuition

SELF INTRODUCTION

Hello,

I am Tram, currently a student of Penn State World Campus. I was born and raised in a low-income family in Viet Nam. When looking back, I am always grateful that such difficult living conditions shaped me into a person I am today: an enthusiastic, self-motivated, reliable, responsible and hardworking person.

I also love to challenge my limit. Under financial difficulties, I have continually strived to seek for self-improvement and for more chances to change my life. From an ordinary suburban elementary school, I got accepted into the best secondary school of the district, and later, the most prestigious high school in the city. And not surprisingly, I was able to got into a top university in Viet Nam.

THE TURNING POINT

I was further and further away from my starting point and I must be satisfied with my achievements. However, after a year of studying, I found that a passive learning environment without challenges and lack of active engagement did not fit me. I expected that university life is about self-studying, participating in class discussions/debates, doing research and projects, engaging in meaningful extra-curricular activities, etc., but I was totally disappointed. Ultimately, I wanted step outside of my comfort zone and came to a bold decision to apply to Penn State World Campus (Bachelor of Science in Business program).

DEALING WITH THE TIGHT BUDGET

Even though Penn State online tuition is relatively high (comparing to my budget), I found some ways to minimize the financial burden. The school offers flat rate tuition for students who take 12+ credits. It means, the more courses at could handle within a semester, the less money I have to pay in total. So I came to a crazy decision: I took 8 courses (25 credits) within my first semester. It was extremely stressful to go through the semester, but at the end, I got a GPA of 3.56 as a reward for my efforts.

In addition, Penn State allows me to take CLEP/DSST exams for credits so I could shorten the time of study and save a lot of money. In this summer, I will take 10 exams for 30 credits (Theoretically, they accept 60 credits by exams but there are only 30 that fits my degree so I can take no more). Each exam costs only ~$80, comparing to more than $1,000 for each 3-credit course at Penn State. By taking 10 exams, I may save $10,000 and 2 semesters of coursework. It is stressful to prepare to take all the exams at once but I hope that again, my hard work will bring me fruitful results, as it always does.

CHALLENGES

When I got accepted to Penn State, I was very happy, but I knew that with my limited savings, I could only afford to pay one semester tuition. To be honest, at the beginning of the course, I had no idea of what to do next when it came to an end of the first semester. The only thing I could do was to concentrate on my studying. Now, when I have more time to think about my problem, I am worried that I cannot continue moving forward.

Since I had spent a great amount of time on the courses, my online business was unstable and my income has declined rapidly. I am facing a tough time and I have no one to turn to for help. So, after carefully considering, I decided to ask for your help.

PLEASE HELP ME!

Because I can handle 8 courses/semester and I can take exams for credits, I could be able to graduate in 2018 and finish my bachelor degree within 2 years of study. To be honest, if my financial situation were better, I would like to spend more time to slowly absorb the knowledge and enjoy the learning process, instead of thinking about deadlines all the time.

I am trying all my best to minimize the amount of time and money for my degree, but now I am still in need of $22,401 for my tuition. Please help me financially if you are able to do so. If not, please click the Facebook share button on the right so that I may receive an average amount of $37 for every sharing.

I promise to give back to those less fortunate than myself as a token of my appreciation for your kindness.

Thank you for your thoughts on this.
- Tram