Local woman uses GoFundMe to help cover law school costs

You might have heard of crowd funding sites like GoFundMe used to raise money for charities or cover health costs.

But what about using those sites to raise money for college tuition?

With the growing cost of college, a little extra money can go a long way.

Jasmine Roy is the second person in her family to graduate from college.

She could be the first attorney in the family, thanks in part to the help of others.

Roy started a GoFundMe page to cover the costs associated with choosing the right law school.

“I knew how important it was to visit the schools I wanted to attend and I needed to come up with a way because I didn’t have the money to do it,” Roy said.

She said it’s not cheep to apply to law school.

“Each seat deposit was $500. The goal was $2,000. The rest of the money went towards travel expenses,” Roy said.

It didn’t take her long to raise the money.

“It was a mix of a lot of different people. Everything from people I talk to on a regular basis, like my mom and then people I don’t talk to so much and I was really surprised to see the support,” Roy said.

But she’s not just relying on the generosity of others, she’s applying for scholarships as well.

“I have a list, literally a book that has a list of scholarships and deadline dates,” Roy said.

Doris Wilson is the associate dean at CSUSB in Palm Desert and said crowd funding could never replace scholarships, but she feels it’s a smart idea to help with the growing cost of college.

“I wish I would have thought of it many years ago, but it didn’t exist many years ago. But why not, if its an opportunity to help a young person out. If you don’t ask, you don’t get,” Wilson said.

Roy plans to keep the GoFundMe page open for those who would like to donate towards her tuition.

“Why not try and get some more support and make my loans go down. Because those loans are a lot of money and after three years, you’re looking at $150,000 and above,” Roy said.

And even though she said the cost of following her dream is daunting, she thinks it’s worth it.

“It’s scary. I just hope for the best. I mean I’m going after my dream and that’s all I can do is go for my dream and it will work itself out,” Roy said.

Roy said if anyone needs assurance of where the money is going she is happy to answer any concerns.