Student fighting deportation

An international student at UCC is facing deportation if she cannot raise enough money to pay the tuition fee for her final year of college.

Imasha Costa is one year away from completing an undergraduate degree in French and English, something many young women from her part of the world never get a chance to do.

Her Irish residency permit expired on 30 September. She now has a grace period of 90 days to raise the funds needed to pay her final year’s tuition.

The first in her family to be able to go to university instead of being married, she is now calling on the people of Cork for help.

Turning to GoFundMe, Imasha explained how she is the daughter of a “fantastic south Asian woman” who worked extremely hard to give her the chance for a third level education.

She said: “This year, I have been left in a position where I have to be able to look after myself and do this by myself as I am not the only one in my family that also deserves to receive an education.”

She is reaching out for help so she can walk onto the stage at the end of her third year and receive her UCC diploma. “In my culture, women are not often given this choice, and I feel very lucky, I know I am very lucky,” she said.

Imasha is a passionate journalist and the Editor in Chief for the University Express. She is also the Consent Officer for the UCC Feminist Society. “Coming into this role, I really would see myself trying to bring consent into south Asian countries eventually, I know this is something that I really want to do. The lack of sex education in south Asia terrifies me, and it needs to be fixed,” she concluded.

Her GoFundMe page has raised over €11,000 so far. To donate, visit gofundme.com and search ‘Cork, Ireland’.