Student’s cash plea to finish off her dream course across the Atlantic
SHE PLANS FOOTY ACADEMY FOR GIRLS
A DERBY woman has appealed for help in completing her USA university dream.
Lucy Robinson, from Allenton, has been studying at a university across the Atlantic for two years and has just entered her third year.
But the 21-year-old says she might have to pack it all in as she is set to run out of cash to cover the tuition fees for her third and fourth years.
Ms Robinson, who is studying sports management at Randall University in Oklahoma, says she has been able to get this far thanks to a sports scholarship and has been working around her studies to cover her accommodation and living expenses.
However, she says she has also been reliant on her parents taking out loans to help with the tuition fees and her parents can’t afford any more.
As a result, she is now pleading for help to ensure she can finish the course, after which she hopes to use her skills to set up a football academy teaching goalkeeping skills to young girls.
Ms Robinson, who played football for Hilton Girls when she was younger and is the great-niece of Derby County legend Reg Harrison, said she received a sports scholarship to attend the university, but it did not cover all the costs.
She said: “Unfortunately it’s a real struggle trying to get the money together to pay for my tuition as there are no student loans out here.
“We thought we would have enough to pay for the full four years, but we didn’t realise how much it was.
“I struggled to work a full-time job when I was at home due to being a full-time carer for my mum [who has a brain condition that leaves her housebound most days].”
She said she thinks she will need £9,000 in total to cover the cost of her next three semesters, which will take her to her graduation. While in the US, Ms Robinson has been playing for the university’s soccer team, and was part of the team that came second in a national tournament last year.
She said the first three years in the US have been “amazing”.
She said: “College soccer is definitely a lot more competitive than it was back home.
“People take it a lot more seriously. “It’s difficult - I’ve not got family and friends over here - but everyone’s so friendly. It does get really hard at times so I try to keep busy socially.
“I’ve had so many invitations to go to people’s homes for Thanksgiving.”
Ms Robinson said her goal of setting up an academy for girls when she gets back is driven by her experiences as a youngster.
She said: “My goal is to open up a goalkeeping academy, mainly for girls, because when I grew up it was just for boys.
“I felt so uncomfortable with the boys, I didn’t want to go. I don’t want girls to feel like that growing up.”
Ms Robinson has set up a GoFundMe page to raise cash for her course. You can donate by visiting https://www.gofundme. com/f/lucys-soccer-scholarship.