For much of Friday, Jafar Howe’s phone would not stop ringing, as scores of people reached out to pledge monetary support to get him to Princeton University.
“The calls haven’t stopped coming,” he said, The Trinidad Guardian reported. “I’ve gotten calls from some very distinguished individuals in the nation. I don’t want to call any names. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve actually been having trouble keeping track of all the numbers coming in.”
The 19-year-old student from Laventille narrowly missed out on a national scholarship but applied to the Ivy League University after scoring 1540 in the SAT exam.
At the start of April, when Princeton responded, he was offered a $400,000 partial scholarship but still needed $20,000 to secure accommodation when he begins classes at the prestigious New Jersey school.
On Thursday, Guardian Media reported that he still needed to raise that money and had returned to his alma mater St. Mary’s College to sell popcorn and tutor students to raise funds.
Once his story was made public, calls kept coming to Howe, with many offering to cover the expense.
A crowdfunding page that he started to go along with his own efforts had raised more than $7,000 by May 2, The Guardian reported.