Weaving has supported families across western Tamil Nadu for generations. It is also hard, poorly paid work, and the handloom trade has been in decline. When a weaver falls ill or dies, the family income can collapse almost overnight.

Three of the students our donors have supported grew up in exactly those homes. Here is what happened when someone covered their college fees.

Manju

Manju's father is a weaver whose health no longer lets him work long hours. Her mother is a homemaker. On ₹6,000-9,000 a month, the family was supporting three daughters in school and college.

Manju topped her government school (474/500 in 10th grade, 550/600 in 12th) and studied engineering in Salem as a day scholar to avoid hostel fees. With her ₹75,000 annual fees covered from 2021, she ranked in the top 3 in her exams after switching to English-medium instruction. She now works as a frontend engineer in Coimbatore and helps pay for her younger sister's schooling.

Srivignesh

Srivignesh's mother and father ran a small weaving business together, earning ₹8,000-10,000 a month. Then his father contracted COVID-19, and the medical bills took what savings they had.

Srivignesh had scored 1,093/1,200 in 12th grade and was topping his engineering college in Tiruchengode with a 90-95% average. With his remaining fees covered, he finished his ECE degree with two job offers and now works as a software engineer at a multinational company in Chennai.

Sundareshwara

Sundareshwara's father died unexpectedly, leaving his mother, a weaver, to support him and his younger sister as the handloom trade declined. He still finished among the top 3 students in his school, scoring 431/500 in 10th grade and 540/600 in 12th.

He won a place in civil engineering in Pollachi, but the fees were ₹95,000 a year. The college reduced them somewhat, relatives could help only a little, and a bank loan was hard to get. A scholarship from our donors covered a significant portion.

Now in his final year, Sundareshwara holds a 9.4 CGPA. He is active in the Rotary Club and the National Cadet Corps, has competed in TCS CodeVita, and practices coding problems on LeetCode alongside his placement training. He already has job offers from both civil engineering and IT companies.

One year of fees changes the trajectory

None of these students lacked talent. What they lacked was ₹75,000-95,000 a year at the moment their family's income could not stretch that far. Covering it kept them in college, and their salaries now support the next sibling in line.

See where more of our scholars are today in Where Our Scholars Are Now.