A group of Nepalese students welcome Joan Liu, who has been working to help them find placement after UT Tyler withdrew more than 60 full scholarships from international students in April. (Courtesy)

After abruptly losing full scholarship offers to UT Tyler, more than 60 Nepalese students were left scrambling with only months before they expected to start their freshman year of college.

In the wake of the scholarship offer withdrawals, colleges across the United States and internationally have stepped in to ensure the students have access to education.

Emily Dobson, a college counselor at the Pan American School of Porto Alegre and founder of Brazil College Counseling, is helping to organize an international effort to place the students.

As of Tuesday, more than 40 of the students being helped have been placed at universities in the U.S., South Korea and Canada. Dobson said 16 of those students have received full scholarships at their new schools.

Dobson believes they have found more schools willing to step in for the remaining students, who hope to study engineering, computer science, computer engineering, information technology, data science and nursing. The group now is trying to raise money for plane tickets, donated airline miles, books and extra costs that may not be covered by the new scholarships. While some may have academic scholarships, not all have secured housing.

Now the group is trying to tackle gap funding and visa issues in the last few months it has to get these students into college.

The network of counselors and academic professionals have been working around the clock, literally, due to the array of time zones involved in coordinating the effort.

With the new offers, students will have to reapply for their visas based on the projected financial aid being offered and show they have all of their costs covered.

The campaign started as a grass-roots movement, as a result of students taking to social media to find a new way forward.

On Nepali New Year’s Eve, Kundan Chaudhary’s dreams were shattered when he received an email saying his full ride to UT Tyler was being withdrawn. His parents were out of town and he didn’t know how he would tell them when they returned.

So he took to Twitter and connected with his peers who had just received the same news. They began networking, desperately trying to find a solution. The students connected with Dobson and others to get the word out about what had happened.

Soon after the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported the story, news outlets across the United States started looking into the situation.

Those stories helped Texas Christian University find Chaudhary. Now, he said, he has found a home for the next four years as he works toward a degree in computer science.

“I thought my years of hard work and faith had all gone in vain, but thanks to TCU, all the effort I had put in didn’t go to waste,” he said.  “Now, I feel I am the luckiest guy to attend a prestigious university like TCU.”

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that Chaudhary will be joined at TCU by fellow Nepalese student Sabina Khanal.

Chaudhary said he is going into computer science with a business minor because he wants to learn skills he can take home to Nepal to improve quality of life.

“There are a lot of networking and technical issues in Nepal, like the internet connection is pretty much slow, and the websites and application developed in Nepal are poor,” he said. “So, I want to become a developer and entrepreneur in this sector.”

Roman Shrestha said he couldn’t eat for days after finding out UT Tyler had withdrawn his scholarship offer.

He described the situation as a nightmare. He couldn’t sit still or even rest because of the panic he felt.

A month to the day he lost his UT Tyler scholarship, a miracle happened. Shrestha said he received a phone call informing him that the University of Denver was offering him a new scholarship.

“I was literally crying, and sharing my happiness with everybody,” he said. “Most of my friends knew what sort of pain I’d been through in the past month, so they were even happy to (say goodbye to) my gloomy face.”

Shrestha said he is overwhelmingly grateful to the school and feels a sense of responsibility to represent Nepal to the best of his ability as he studies chemistry in Colorado.

Now the students and group of admission professionals are working to ensure every single student who lost the UT Tyler scholarship finds a new home.

“This journey has been the best memory I’ll ever live with. It taught me that we all need patience and hard work to turn every impossible idea into reality,” Shrestha said.

“So far, we have been able to place around 37 students, and are working to find their best fit. Everyone’s love, support and selfless efforts (have helped) to find homes for everyone.”

Twitter: @TMT_Cory

A website has been set up for anyone who would like to help the students. For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/issh.ac.jp/nepalistudentshowyoucanhelp/home?authuser=0.