Studying abroad has never been easy for Ukrainians. Students from Ukraine face lengthy application processes, high visa fees and mountains of bureaucracy. Now, with the hyrvnia’s value close to an all-time low and Russia’s war against Ukraine shrinking the economy, some enterprising students have turned to crowdfunding to finance their education.
Nikolay Dogadailo from Mariupol is in his senior year of studies at Brigham Young University in the state of Utah.
Nikolay Dogadailo
“I chose to come to the United States because here I can work and study at the same time and work will adjust to my school schedule,” Dogadailo said. “In Ukraine, because I’m an orphan and don’t have a family, I would either have to work or study.”
So far, he has supported himself by working part-time throughout fall and winter and full time during spring and summer. He received a scholarship from his department, but the hryvnia’s tumbling value has left him $6,000 short and unable to pay for his final two semesters.
Two months ago, he turned to crowdfunding website GoFundMe to raise the money he needs. He has already received $1,510, with donations coming in from friends and strangers alike.
Although relatively new to Ukraine, this unorthodox funding method is already well-established in several Western countries. None of the students interviewed for this article knew of any Ukrainians who had successfully crowdfunded their education, but all hoped to inspire others with their campaigns.
Several more conventional funding options have recently vanished, often without explanation.
From 2010 to 2014, the Firtash Foundation provided full funding for scholars to attend Cambridge University. However, the program has now been halted and no official reason has been provided.
When contacted, Cambridge Trust said that they were “not certain whether the Cambridge-Ukraine Studentship will be available for 2016-17.”
The U.S.-based Shevchenko Scientific Society, which provides scholarships for Ukrainian and Ukraine-related studies, is on a temporary hiatus while conducting an internal review. It will resume service for 2016 with new application guidelines.
Billionaire Victor Pinchuk’s World Wide Studies continues to award grants, and most universities offer scholarship opportunities for international students, but these often provide only partial support.
Students seeking education abroad are often doing so in order to pursue courses not currently available in Ukraine. Lisa Yasko, a graduate of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, has gained a place on the Master of Public Policy course at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, the first Ukrainian to do so.
Yasko describes the course as “something really practical, which we don’t have in Ukraine. I studied political sciences here and it’s very theoretical. I know how far we are from real public policy.”
Lisa Yasko
A three-time Zavtra scholar, she has secured grants from World Wide Studies and her future school, but has only covered 80 percent of her costs. She has turned to crowdfunding to raise the remaining $15,000.
Since launching her campaign on Indiegogo Life two weeks ago, she has raised another $2,950. Some of her support has unexpectedly come from her prospective classmates.
“The first $100 I got was from a future classmate at Oxford,” she says. “Then that classmate asked other classmates to donate. There are some who got full scholarships from their governments, but in my country we don’t have this possibility, so these people have shared this with me.”
The cost of studying abroad for Ukrainian students is often prohibitive, a state of affairs that has been exacerbated by the falling value of the hryvnia. For example, a master of law course at the University of Cambridge for the 2016/17 academic year costs £24,549 for tuition alone – almost Hr 850,000 at today’s exchange rate. Living costs are estimated at another £10,000-12,000 per year.
Ira Yeroshko hopes to study photography at Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna, Austria. As higher education in Austria is free she does not have to cover tuition, but is trying to raise $7,847 for living costs and essential equipment, including a laptop and new camera.
“Even with the little amount of money I need, with the Ukrainian average salary I would have to work for ten years to save it,” Yeroshko explains. “That’s why I’m crowdfunding.”
Both Yasko and Yeroshko hope that supporters will recognize their efforts as long-term investments in Ukraine. Yeroshko’s dream is to work as a photographer for the Red Cross or UNICEF, while Yasko hopes to play an integral role in reforming Ukraine’s cultural policy.
“If we had more communication between the regions, we wouldn’t struggle to find this one identity, we would just have it,” says Yasko. “I really believe that the arts can help us to be united and produce a lot of things for our economy.”
“It’s been a struggle for me, thinking I want to do photography,” says Yeroshko. “It seemed selfish, especially during the war. It was such a relief when I realized there is a way for me to serve, to bring value and raise awareness through photography.”
Ukraine’s currency woes limit the crowdfunding sites available – many sites will not accept campaigns based in Ukraine due to complications with bank transfers. GoFundMe was only open to Dogadailo as he is based in the U.S.
However, Yasko believes Ukrainian mentality is primarily responsible for holding back other would-be crowdfunders. “Psychologically, we are ashamed to ask for money for our projects,” she explains. “If you ask something for yourself, then you are taking someone’s money.”
“It was very difficult for me to launch this, but someone told me, ‘You are not asking for yourself; you are asking for something that will help you make a change in Ukraine.’”
Sandra MacKenzie can be reached at [email protected]
