Nigerian International medical student at uoft asks for $92,000 on Gofundme (currently at $124,000)

[mohammad]

Her story doesn't make sense. She is like any other student. Do people not see that she is an international student who paid no taxes before coming here for school? Why is everyone sharing this gofundme on social media? She is an international student/immigrant like any other foreign student from China, India, or the Middle East.

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/Noroh-Medical-School-Tuition?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all

[Bambi]

She has touched the social conscience of concerned Canadian, and the contributions do make sense.

[ellorie]

Story makes perfect sense to me?  Any student, international or not, can share their story and try to fund their education with a GoFundMe - why not her?  And I'm not sure why her tax situation is relevant - she's paying international student rates and not receiving any subsidized loans.

People are impressed by the social justice work she is doing, and the adversity she has overcome.  She has faced more financial adversity than many medical students, though certainly not all, never mind the impact of systemic racism and the difficulties of immigrating to a different country without your family at 16.  People want to help her out I'm guessing because they find her hard work inspiring and also because they think that the medical system will benefit from the work she will do as a physician in the future - not clear if she plans to stay in Canada or not unless I missed it but it seemed to imply yes.

[mohammad]

12 minutes ago, ellorie said:

Story makes perfect sense to me?  Any student, international or not, can share their story and try to fund their education with a GoFundMe - why not her?  And I'm not sure why her tax situation is relevant - she's paying international student rates and not receiving any subsidized loans.

People are impressed by the social justice work she is doing, and the adversity she has overcome.  She has faced more financial adversity than many medical students, though certainly not all, never mind the impact of systemic racism and the difficulties of immigrating to a different country without your family at 16.  People want to help her out I'm guessing because they find her hard work inspiring and also because they think that the medical system will benefit from the work she will do as a physician in the future - not clear if she plans to stay in Canada or not unless I missed it but it seemed to imply yes.

Domestic tuition is less because of the subsidies. She is an international student who has not contributed which leads to no subsidies and paying the upfront cost of medical school. 

[ellorie]

So then why it is a problem if people want to help her pay those costs with their own personal money?

If you don't agree, then when you have extra money, you can pick your own cause to donate to, that you think is valuable and will improve society.

[mohammad]

13 minutes ago, ellorie said:

So then why it is a problem if people want to help her pay those costs with their own personal money?

If you don't agree, then when you have extra money, you can pick your own cause to donate to, that you think is valuable and will improve society.

Not a problem. It's a free country and she smartly asked people for money and it has gone viral on medical social media. She is now well over her goal. She is at $127,000 now and it is still open. At what point, will the dollar value exceed what she wanted and become unethical?

[mohammad]

This statement also makes no sense:

Additionally, as an international student in Canada, I am not eligible to obtain financial support from the government nor lines of credit from banks (except a Canadian citizen or permanent resident cosigns).

Why would she even mention that she cannot receive student loans or LOCs from Canadian resources? She is from Nigeria. She should be eligible for all of this back home. This is where the story is written to tug at heart strings of Canadians and the social justice.

[Bambi]

mohammad, you are barking up the wrong tree. You really want to rain on her. She has future medical education expenses and her request is reasonable and certainly not unethical, notwithstanding exceeding her original request for funding.

Your views and statements are without merit.

 

[mohammad]

8 minutes ago, Bambi said:

mohammad, you are barking up the wrong tree. You really want to rain on her. She has future medical education expenses and her request is reasonable and certainly not unethical, notwithstanding exceeding her original request for funding.

Your views and statements are without merit.

 

Not meaning to rain on her. That is not my intention. I apologize if it comes across that way. I think asking for fundraising is entirely appropriate and justified. I just think some of the writing like ineligibility to access Canadian financial resources and the 4x tuition cost is reasonable and has no impact on her narrative save for seeming more like a victim to receive more funds. That part can be omitted. In fact, I would be more curious as to why she hasn't requested loans from Nigeria. 

[capoo]

15 hours ago, Bambi said:

mohammad, you are barking up the wrong tree. You really want to rain on her. She has future medical education expenses and her request is reasonable and certainly not unethical, notwithstanding exceeding her original request for funding.

Your views and statements are without merit.

 

it’s nothing but pure jealousy. As long as the student closes her GoFundMe in time, makes sure that donations are only for her school expenses, and doesn’t use it for any other sketchy purposes, I don’t see any problem.

[ellorie]

Noroh has been very clear what she is asking and for what purpose, and people are voluntarily choosing to fund her over that amount.  She is only in MS2, so my best guess is, if she gets extra, she will use it to pay her entire outstanding balance versus just the minimum deposit, and then will probably use it to help her with the next 2 years of tuition thereafter.  Which is also very reasonable and in line with the intent of the people who are donating.

I expect she is talking about her high tuition and her ineligibility to access Canadian financial resources because otherwise people outside of medicine (and probably some within medicine - I personally didn't realize that international tuition was that high) would question why she needs so much money and why she has no other options for how to get it, because a Canadian student typically would not be in that position.  She's just explaining why her situation is different from that of a Canadian student.

If you're upset because you feel that Canadian students deserve more support for their medical education, that's certainly something you can choose to use your time and money to advocate for without slamming someone who is doing her best to pursue a difficult career in a socially conscious way despite facing significant adversity along the way.  Not being Canadian herself doesn't mean that her story doesn't have merit, that she isn't deserving, or even that she isn't contributing to our country.

I honestly don't understand why this feels so personal or so bothersome to you aside from that she is talking about racism and marginalization in medicine, which is a huge issue that we should all be looking at.

[honeymoon]

thanks for posting! just pitched in a little as well

[DrDD]

3 hours ago, mohammad said:

This statement also makes no sense:

Additionally, as an international student in Canada, I am not eligible to obtain financial support from the government nor lines of credit from banks (except a Canadian citizen or permanent resident cosigns).

Why would she even mention that she cannot receive student loans or LOCs from Canadian resources? She is from Nigeria. She should be eligible for all of this back home. This is where the story is written to tug at heart strings of Canadians and the social justice.

Not all countries have the same loan policy. I am an immigrant myself, the conversion of the amount needed for studying here to the amount in my country is SO HUGE that if I tried to get a loan for that price (at my home country), the banks would laugh at me. Getting loans at home country is NOT always an option, not every country offers educational support like Canada does to domestic students.  It is important to talk about the ineligibilty to access Canadian financial resources coz when I read this, as a medical student myself, my first reaction was "Why not get a line of credit?", I was not aware that international students did not get that resource. She gave all information needed to justify why she felt the need to ask for such a donation. 

[whatdoido]

jealousy isn't a good look. none of this is a good look. something about a future physician being bitter over a marginalized and disadvantaged immigrant receiving support and financial help really doesn't sit well with me.

[Symphonie]

Thank you everyone for your input. 

@mohammad, I am asking you to remain empathetic to this student situation. You are not forced to send her any penny, but you should refrain to call her cry for help unethical. 

All in all, I encourage anyone who wants to help her, to do so. I have received reports about this thread. I wont lock it, but I will if it gets out of hands...

 

[Med2050]

It is interesting that someone brought this up. First I want to be clear that, I completely agree with everyone that Noroh has a very valid reason to ask for and receive help (I personally pitched in a little). As someone coming from a marginalized background, I feel her pain and I’m so grateful that most people that I have encountered so far have been incredibly positive and supportive.

On that note, I do have one hypothetical question. This is mostly out of curiosity and please let me know if it is inappropriate. I am asking also because I do have friends and family back home (in a third world country that could only dream about the opportunity to study medicine in Canada but couldn’t due to financial reasons ) 

If the student in this case, was of East Asian or Middle Eastern decent (international students coming from these regions have traditionally been associated with wealth, tho certainly not all of them are), do you think they would have received the same amount of attention and help?

 

[Bambi]

Noroh's country of origin combined with the compelling facts that she presented were of material assistance in helping her make a case for need. Every case is different and I assume each case would be considered on it's individual merits as determined by potential contributors.  

[guy30]

Quite the compelling story reading her GoFundMe page, I'm donating as well..

[Snowmen]

On 12/9/2020 at 3:17 PM, Symphonie said:

Thank you everyone for your input. 

@mohammad, I am asking you to remain empathetic to this student situation. You are not forced to send her any penny, but you should refrain to call her cry for help unethical. 

All in all, I encourage anyone who wants to help her, to do so. I have received reports about this thread. I wont lock it, but I will if it gets out of hands...

 

If it isn't for him to decide that this is unethical, then neither is it your job to decide that it is ethical.

I have a hard time understanding how someone who will be part of the top 1% of earners (as it seems that she intends to stay in Canada) should be asking for charity from anyone. Anyone who argues that a medical student is more deserving of people's money than other charities should rethink their beliefs.

[Symphonie]

6 hours ago, Snowmen said:

If it isn't for him to decide that this is unethical, then neither is it your job to decide that it is ethical.

I have a hard time understanding how someone who will be part of the top 1% of earners (as it seems that she intends to stay in Canada) should be asking for charity from anyone. Anyone who argues that a medical student is more deserving of people's money than other charities should rethink their beliefs.

Ive never said that she’s entitled to his/her money, nor that she’s more deserving. I simply came in as a warning, as i have received report complaints. As i said, everyone is free to give her money or not. However, respect should remain.

Anyway, her being in the 1% later in life doesn’t mean, in any way whatsoever, that she has money right now. If we follow your logic, med students shouldnt receive any loans, bursaries, scholarships or line of credits, solely because theyll be apart of the 1% later in life.

[Snowmen]

5 hours ago, Symphonie said:

Ive never said that she’s entitled to his/her money, nor that she’s more deserving. I simply came in as a warning, as i have received report complaints. As i said, everyone is free to give her money or not. However, respect should remain.

Anyway, her being in the 1% later in life doesn’t mean, in any way whatsoever, that she has money right now. If we follow your logic, med students shouldnt receive any loans, bursaries, scholarships or line of credits, solely because theyll be apart of the 1% later in life.

Regardless of whether or not she's entitled to her money, everyone should be entitled to their opinion as long as it isn't causing anyone prejudice. I don't think anyone suffered any prejudice outside of being offended that someone wouldn't agree with them.

They should receive loans and lines of credits, which they will repay unlike donations.

[Symphonie]

4 minutes ago, Snowmen said:

Regardless of whether or not she's entitled to her money, everyone should be entitled to their opinion as long as it isn't causing anyone prejudice. I don't think anyone suffered any prejudice outside of being offended that someone wouldn't agree with them.

They should receive loans and lines of credits, which they will repay unlike donations.

Saying that her story doesnt make any sense (subtly insinuating that she’s lying) and saying it’s unethical is quite a bit of prejudice in my book. We’ll have to agree to disagree on that.

For your last point, multitudes of medical students receive scolarships and bursaries, (and lets not even talk about the perks most banks give away when subscribing for a LOC) without having to repay anything back.

Assuming every med student is financially well off does not match reality.

[TortueGeniale]

For those who do not know, before granting you a student visa, the immigration services require (extensive) funding proof for the entire duration of the studies. And that money has to be wired in its entirety to a Canadian bank before the student even sets foot in Canada...

 

 

[hamsterman11]

11 hours ago, Snowmen said:

If it isn't for him to decide that this is unethical, then neither is it your job to decide that it is ethical.

I have a hard time understanding how someone who will be part of the top 1% of earners (as it seems that she intends to stay in Canada) should be asking for charity from anyone. Anyone who argues that a medical student is more deserving of people's money than other charities should rethink their beliefs.

Doctors are top 1% earners? That's really suprising to me lmao. I feel like its a hard job to get into and sure, you can make some money but to be top 1% you have to have made >338k/yr (median of 1% top earners). I feel like other jobs might be more accessible (tech industry, pharmaceuticals, small companies, etc.). Ik its not the subject of this discussion but I just felt like sharing this as its an interesting subject and I wonder how some doctors really make it into medecine just for the money

[naptime98]

8 minutes ago, hamsterman11 said:

Doctors are top 1% earners? That's really suprising to me lmao. I feel like its a hard job to get into and sure, you can make some money but to be top 1% you have to have made >338k/yr (median of 1% top earners). I feel like other jobs might be more accessible (tech industry, pharmaceuticals, small companies, etc.). Ik its not the subject of this discussion but I just felt like sharing this as its an interesting subject and I wonder how some doctors really make it into medecine just for the money

Median of the 1% isn't a great way to judge who is in the 1% or not. By definition that would be closer to the top 0.5%.... Regardless, stats can says top 1% is greater than $235,000 which would certainly include the vast majority of physicians in Canada.