Helping Ukrainian Student Finish College

My name is Nikita Kuzin. I am a Ukrainian citizen studying Mathematics and Economics at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS. My dream is to be able to graduate from university and find a job in Kansas. I have already made one Fundraiser to cover my living expenses for the summer. And I am very grateful to every person who has helped me so far. Thanks to all of them I have been able to raise money in less than a month. Lots of people helped me with the groceries directly, plenty offered me a place to stay. I am truly indebted to everyone who expressed their care and helped me. At this moment I am doing everything I can to try to provide for myself. I am working the maximum allowed hours as a research assistant at the university. Parallel to that, I have applied for permission to work off campus, which will increase my wage a little if it gets approved. I am also in the middle of the process of applying for in-state tuition through the residency office.

As for my family, my mum and my two younger siblings had to flee from their home. Right now, they are safe. They got to Belgium and are trying to settle down there: get a job, find a place to live, and send kids to school.

Unfortunately, my dad is stuck in Ukraine. Because of the general mobilization, he is not allowed to leave the country. He managed to keep his job; most of the money goes to support my family in Belgium, and the rest covers his expenses in Ukraine. But considering the whole situation in the country, this amount of money isn’t worth much if you exchange it abroad. So, as you understand, my family lost most of its income and all their savings are being used to get through the crisis.

Here is where I ask you to help me. My family is no longer able to support my education financially. And with two years of college behind me, it would be unacceptable for me to turn back and just abandon it. I am trying to save and earn as much money as possible by myself. I am constantly staying in touch with the university’s representatives trying to get financial help from them, but as I said earlier, they don’t give any clear answers. I am working the maximum allowed hours (as an international student I am allowed to work up to 20 hours a week on-campus only). Right now, I am trying to get permission to work off-campus which will allow me to raise my wage a little bit. But even all of that isn’t enough to save enough money for the last four semesters of my education. So, at this point, I am asking all of you to help me finish my education. Any help you can provide will be accepted and very much appreciated. Here I am providing the breakdown of my two-year costs which will explain the number I have set as my goal for this Fundraiser.

• Each of my semesters costs $14,200. Which is $56,800 in total for 2 years.

• Insurance provided by KU is $1,000 per semester, $4,000 in total.

• My rent is $400 per month. Utilities are varied between $90 - $100. Which is $12,000 in total.

• On groceries I spend $250 every 2 weeks, which is $12,000 in total.

• Other expenses such as Laundry, Phone Plan, Books, etc. totals in $6,920.

• I receive a $4,500 scholarship each semester, which is a total of $18,000 for 2 years.

• Right now, I have money provided from the previous Fundraiser and Financial Aid from the university, which is $15,100 in total.

• I am also going to work 15 hours a week for $12 an hour, which totals in $11,520.

If you add up all the expenses listed above and subtract all the money I will be able to save, you will end up with the sum of $47,100. Which is the amount I need in total to graduate from the University of Kansas. Including the GoFundMe fees that they subtract after sending money, I rounded it up to $50,000.

Once again, I am really grateful to everyone who is supporting me. Any kind of help will be appreciated and remembered. It would help a lot if you could share the link to let more people know about my situation. Thank you!

In case, some of you will find Venmo/Zelle more convenient I am leaving my email address [email redacted] and Venmo username: @nakuzin