The question we hear most from donors is a simple one: did it work? Here is the honest answer, five students at a time. Every one of them came from a family that could not cover college fees. Every one of them is now earning, and most are already helping a younger sibling through school.
Manju: from a weaver's home to frontend engineer
Manju topped her government school in Tamil Nadu, scoring 474/500 in 10th grade and 550/600 in 12th. She qualified for top government engineering colleges, but her family chose a college in Salem where she could live at home and save on hostel costs.
Her father is a weaver whose declining health limits how long he can work. The family's income swung between ₹6,000 and ₹9,000 a month, with ₹1,500 going to rent, while they also supported her elder sister's engineering degree and a younger sister in 9th grade. Manju's fees were ₹75,000 a year.
We began supporting her in 2021, on the condition that she kept her grades up. She did: despite switching to English-medium instruction, she ranked in the top 3 in her exams. Manju now works as a frontend engineer at an IT company in Coimbatore and helps pay for her younger sister's education.
Srivignesh: a 90%+ average through his father's illness
Srivignesh, from Namakkal District, scored 1,093/1,200 in his 12th-grade exams and went on to top his class at his engineering college in Tiruchengode with a 90-95% average.
His parents ran a small weaving business that brought in ₹8,000-10,000 a month. When his father contracted COVID-19, the medical bills drained what little they had. His fees were ₹75,000-80,000 a year; a ₹25,000 government scholarship covered part, and the family had already tried bank loans for the rest.
From 2021 we covered his semester fees through his degree. Srivignesh graduated in ECE with two job offers and now works as a software engineer at a top multinational company in Chennai.
Ragul Praveen: the first graduate in his family
Ragul lost his father as a child. His mother, Govindammal, raised him and his sister on daily-wage farm work. When Ragul started college she was 62 and earning ₹200 a day.
He scored 459/500 in 10th grade and 452/600 in 12th, and won a place in a B.E. Agriculture program at a top college in Coimbatore. College fees were ₹60,000 a year and hostel and mess another ₹55,000. His mother took out a loan for the first year; by the second, they could not keep up.
With his GPA consistently above 8/10, we stepped in with scholarship support. Ragul completed his degree in Agricultural Engineering, the first graduate in his family, and now works as a production supervisor at an agricultural company in Bangalore.
Vishnuvarthan: from a tea shop to a multinational
Vishnuvarthan's father runs a small tea shop in Erode. His elder brother was already in engineering college on a loan, and the family was at risk of losing their land to foreclosure. Despite scoring 486 in 10th grade and 572 in 12th, Vishnuvarthan was preparing to settle for a cheaper arts college.
A scholarship let him join a government engineering college instead. He is completing his EEE degree and has already been placed at a multinational company as an electronics engineer.
Gayathri: from COVID loss to an IT career
Gayathri's father died of COVID-19, leaving her mother to support five daughters alone in Tiruchirappalli. A scholarship and mentorship took her through a B.Sc. in Computer Science at SRM College. She graduated in 2024 and works at an IT company in Tiruchirappalli.
We told her full story in From Covid Loss to Tech Career.
Next up
Several more students are in their final year right now. Sundareshwara, a civil engineering student with a 9.4 CGPA, already has offers from both civil and IT companies, and Dharun has a software engineering offer waiting when he graduates.
Meet some of the students we are supporting today in Dharun, Tamil, and Pranav's stories.
What it takes
For most of these students, the gap between dropping out and graduating was one year of fees, somewhere around ₹60,000-95,000, or roughly $700-1,100. Volunteers verify every student, pay the college directly, and send donors updates on how they are doing.
