Taylor Swift Sends Mississauga Student Tuition Money
Published August 14, 2019 at 5:29 pm
Ask and you shall receive–sometimes in entirely unexpected ways.
Ayesha Khurram, a very lucky university student who took to Tumblr to ask for help paying her tuition, had her call answered by an unexpected person–world-famous pop star Taylor Swift.
“I posted about struggling with paying for tuition,” Khurram wrote on Instagram on Aug. 13, 2019.
“Two hours later, I get this in my email. I have no words and I can’t stop crying. I don’t have words I don’t have words I don’t have words I can’t stop crying.”
According to Khurram’s Instagram and blog, she was shocked to discover a message from Swift’s company that simply said “Ayesha, get your learn on girl. I love you! Taylor.” Swift’s company also donated over $6,000 to cover Khurram’s tuition.
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CBC says that Khurram, a Mississauga woman, is currently studying at the University of Waterloo.
Khurram is a huge fan of Swift who told the CBC that she met the pop star in 2018 after interacting with her online.
On her blog, Khurram said that her call for help was prompted by financial and health issues in her family, adding that both of her parents work minimum wage jobs and that her mother suffers from chronic kidney disease.
“What she [Swift] did for my parents right now…I have no words. My mother suffers with chronic kidney disease stage 3 and that’s always something we’re worried about. Stress aggravates her condition and not having funds is stressful,” Khurram wrote.
“Both of my parents work minimum wage jobs. They were going to try to get loans. Because $1.7k tuition and $780 per month rent isn’t an easy thing to ask of your parents. And Taylor Swift took that stress from my parents, my world, and I have never seen them cry/laugh the way they are right now.”
Khurram wrote that Swift has made her family happy through music for years and that her generous $6,386.47 donation was something they could “never, ever have imagined or hoped for.”
“I truly do not have words and I will never, ever be able to repay her for the love and kindness she has shown me right now.”
Khurram also posted an emotional video to her blog thanking Swift for helping her.
“From the state of my hair, you can probably tell that I’ve been crying since I got that email. It does not feel real. When you post something like that online you’re just like, ‘oh maybe one of my mutuals will give me $50 or something.’ When I got the email, I was literally stuffing a chai cookie in my mouth…I was like ‘aww, somebody, one of my mutuals, sent me money that’s so sweet,’ then I saw it was $6,000 from Taylor Nation and I was like ‘wait.’”
Khurram said she was in disbelief.
“I thought it was a scam email, but it says ‘I love you, get your learn on, girl,’ and she said my name! She knows my name. I have no words. Taylor Swift, my liver, my kidneys, my heart, all my frickin’ organs, are yours.”
Khurram wrote that her father joked about putting pictures of Swift up all over the house and that her mother offered to drive to the store to procure the photos.
On Aug. 14, an elated Khurram took to Instagram to share additional excitement over the upcoming release of Swift’s new single.
On her blog, Khurram also celebrated Swift’s generosity by thanking her for supporting an immigrant of colour.
“Racists lost tonight Taylor gave me, a Pakistani immigrant from a Muslim family living in Canada, money to help pay for rent and tuition. and that’s that on that.”
Cover photo courtesy of Taylor Swift’s official Facebook page
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