Medical student sells car, takes out a loan and goes viral when showing the struggle to pay for college: ‘it was never easy’ | Education

Student goes viral after showing difficulty paying for medical school in Santos (SP)

A student from Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, went viral on social media when she asked for help to fulfill her dream: becoming a doctor. Vitória Calixto Monteiro, 23 years old, told g1 who has already taken out loans, financing and even sold his car to pay the monthly payments. Now, resources have run out and she runs the risk of having to suspend the Medicine course.

“What I love most about Medicine is the care and contact with patients, being able to learn stories and help someone feel better”, said Vitória, who is now the one who needs help.

Vitória explained that dreamed of studying Medicine from childhood. In 2018, when she started the 3rd year of high school, she started taking preparatory courses to take the entrance exam and enter a federal college. Given the family’s financial conditions, the student stated that she knew that a private university was not an option.

After four years of trying, in 2022, she attended a private university in Santos that does not accept the Student Financing Fund (Fies), a program from the Ministry of Education (MEC) that grants financing to students in non-free higher education courses.

The student said that her mother, secretary Mabel Calixto, 56 years old, was willing to make her dream come true. They spoke to Vitória’s father who agreed to pay the college costs. According to the young woman, the monthly fee is R$ 10,674.30 and each semester it is also necessary to pay the same re-enrollment amount.

In the first semester, her father managed to pay only two monthly fees and Vitória only found out at the end of the six months, when he said that the student I would have to leave college.

“I was floored. They [universidade] They said that to lock it you would need to pay what was outstanding. My father made a deal and paid for the first semester. That’s when my mother said: ‘We’re going to try in every way to make you stay at this college'”, she explained.

To pay for the following semester, Vitória took out a bank financing. But, as they were unable to pay it, the family had to sell the car to pay off this debt. If she had other assets, she stated that she would sell them to study medicine.

“We don’t sell anything anymore because we don’t have any more goods that we can sell. The apartment we live in is rented”, explained the student.

When she reached the third semester, she went to a bank to get new financing. But this time he was refused. The alternative that the student found was to make a loan from unclewhich she continues to pay.

During the fourth semester, Vitória was unable to pay her monthly fees and to re-enroll for the fifth semester she would need to pay off this debt. She made a agreement with the college and the first installment was paid by a family friend.

The student highlighted that she is unable to work because the course is full-time and, like her family, no more resources to pay for college. She is in her fifth semester and there are still seven more to achieve her dream of becoming a doctor.

“As I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, it was never easy. Each semester was a different struggle […]. It scares me and gives me a little fear knowing that there are still seven semesters to go, but just getting here is already a victory,” she said.

Vitória told the g1 that she didn’t want people to know what she was going through to pay for college. However, she understood that a video could reach people capable of helping her and decided to share the situation on social media.

The video in which she asks for help to continue studying has already surpassed 158 thousand views.

“Every day I continue studying despite the uncertainty. I have just lived by faith. I am sure that getting here is already a miracle and I really want to see this miracle to the end.”