In an attempt to keep student George Evans in law school, a group of his classmates are fundraising $19,000.

Evans, JD ’14, is an international student from Nassau, Bahamas. This year, he faced a series of financial struggles that forced him to drop out of Queen’s.

“It has really just been one thing after the next,” Evans said.

Originally Evans expected to fund law school with a combination of scholarships and parental assistance. His resources fell through when his mother’s pension package was retracted and a scholarship he expected from the Lyford Cay Foundation in the Bahamas never materialized.

The foundation funds Bahamian students studying internationally and helped Evans during his time at York University. He graduated from York in 2010 with a degree in Philosophy.

Living in Canada on a student visa means Evans is not permitted to hold a job unless enrolled at school. Now that he’s no longer enrolled at Queen’s, he’s ineligible to apply for Queen’s scholarships.

Evans disclosed his financial difficulties to a classmate when he was filling out applications for summer jobs.

He said he didn’t tell people about his financial difficulties at first.

“It was a very private thing,” he said. “It’s something that I know I shouldn’t feel ashamed about but sometimes I do.” With a $19,000 debt to pay off and his second year of tuition fees to consider, Evans’ classmates decided to lend a hand.

The fundraising campaign Keep George Here aims to pay off the total amount of Evans’ debt. If successful, he will be allowed to re-enroll at Queen’s for the Winter term. The campaign is entirely student-run.

Evans said he’s overwhelmed by the support he’s received from Queen’s students and the Kingston community.

“I can’t imagine I would have gotten this kind of support in any other law school,” he said.

The campaign was launched by Evans’ classmates Dana Carson and Katherine Chau.

“We felt really strongly about George,” Chau, JD ’13 said. “We want him to be able to see through his education.”

“We have so much confidence in his ability, he has tremendous work ethic.”

The campaign has included a Sept. 14 fundraiser at Monkey Bar and donations to the Keep George Here website which are submitted through a PayPal account.

The campaign is already well over half way to reaching their goal.

“Originally people heard about our $19,000 dollar target and they said ‘I don’t think you’re going to reach it,’ [but] hitting the target is inevitable at this point,” Chau said. “It’s something that will happen within the next week or two.”

For more information on the campaign visit keepgeorgehere.blogspot.com