Kate Koenig, a 19-year-old University of Pittsburgh student, was cut off by her family after they found out she identifies as pansexual.
When Koenig's parents discovered her sexuality right before the start of her freshman year of college, they told her that they would no longer provide financial assistance. Koenig says that her family, including her extended family, is "extremely homophobic."
"They're praying, literally praying, that I turn off my sexuality and come back to the faith, come back to the church and ... come back to them,"she says.
Due to the fact that she is unable to qualify for a loan without a cosigner, Koenig will be spending the fall semester at a local community college. In order to fulfill her dream of attending Pitt, Koenig decided to start a GoFundMe page to cover the cost of tuition for the rest of the school year.
In eight days, she raised over $12,000 of the $15,000 she needs to stay at Pitt.
"Going to Pitt is a dream of mine and I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to stay there,"she wrote."I will be immensely grateful if your contributions allow me to stay at Pitt. I'm praying every day for a miracle to help make this possible."
