Tuition fees in American Universities, hit (and often pierce) the roof. Ivy League schools are generally ranked amongst the best universities worldwide and usually accept a tiny percentage of international students. So what would happen if an Italian talented girl, in her early twenties, got accepted by one of these colleges, but couldn’t be able to afford it? 

Her creativity would run to her rescue. Since the digital era is characterized by projects or ventures that can be accomplished by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people via the internet, why not use crowdfunding to invest in education?

This is how Federica Belletti - a twenty-four year old from a tiny town in Italy called Monte Urano - intends to pursue her American Dream. She has been accepted for the extremely prestigious and selective MFA Program in Creative Producing at Columbia and she has started her campaign through GoFundMe to raise the required $80,000, to grasp the opportunity that is being given to her.

Federica is no stranger to the New York, since she spent a year as an au pair in a New Jersey family to improve her English, and whenever she had the chance she would commute to the Big Apple to follow all the film events in town. She is adamant in the way this experience would be life changing for her: “This institution offers me a variety of opportunities that I would never dream of in Italy. I would actually have the chance to bring to my hometown a know-how that is currently lacking,” she explains.

Federica quotes the Italian cinematic masterpiece by Giuseppe Tornatore to exemplify her situation, “In Cinema Paradiso Alfredo tells Totò «Go away and never come back» and Totò leaves Sicily and accomplishes himself in Rome. Nowadays New York is the place for budding filmmakers.” In her video message she explains thoroughly what Fede’s Mission For Columbia is all about. Donating money for a young dreamer’s tuition fees means investing in the future, and as one of the Founding Fathers of the land of the American Dream - Benjamin Franklin - once said “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

GoFundMe: http://www.gofundme.com/Fede-Columbia 

Federica Belletti’s video message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVSBmpaM2w&feature=youtu.be