Taylor Swift donates £23k to A-Level student who can't afford university
21 August 2020, 18:09
The superstar went out of her way to help 18-year-old Vitoria Mario and has fulfilled her dream of being able to afford higher education.
Chart-topping songstress Taylor Swift has donated more than £23,000 to a teenager from London after her story about not being able to afford university went viral.
Vitoria Mario, 18, dreamt of studying Mathematics at Warwick University and had exceeded her conditional offer requirements after scoring an impressive A*A*A in her Maths, Further Maths and Physics A-Levels.
However, she failed to qualify for maintenance loans and grants and had turned to GoFundMe to set up a campaign to raise the funds.
The Tottenham-based student's story reached Taylor, 30, over in the US, who was moved by her story and decided to donate £23,373 to the fundraiser, which topped up the amount raised to the target of £40,000.
This is set to cover Vitoria's living costs and university supplies over the course of her three-year degree.
Making the donation today, Taylor wrote on Vitoria's page: "Vitoria, I came across your story online and am so inspired by your drive and dedication to turning your dreams into reality.
"I want to gift you the rest of your goal amount. Good luck with everything you do! Love, Taylor".
Vitoria has been left absolutely gobsmacked by the kind donation.
She explained: "My mind has been blown. I was wondering how to reach enough people to hit my goal and now this miracle has happened.
"I'm just over the moon. I got 1A and 2A*s in my exam results recently and this is just a huge cherry on the cake!"
One of Vitoria's friends tweeted: "So @taylorswift13 donated £23K to my friend who needed funding for university and she’s met her target?! THANKYOU JESUSSSSSS!!!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!!!!".
The talented young student had shared details of her story in detail on her GoFundMe page.
She penned: "I have lived in the U.K. for 4 years now, after migrating from Portugal to live with family in Tottenham.
"The socio-economic barriers of not being eligible for maintenance loans/grants is due not only to not having ‘Home’ status, but also because my family are low income, and unable to help me self-fund through university.
"Sadly, my father has passed away, and my mother remains in Portugal. Moving away from her was a challenge but it was a sacrifice worth being made, in my family’s eyes."
