A 15-year-old girl has turned to crowdfunding to pay for her private school education after a tragedy left her single mother unable to work for a year.
Alera Celesti was due to start Year 10 at Kardinia International College in Geelong last month but was unable to afford the higher school fees and her registration was cancelled.
The teen started one GoFundMe to fund her private education, explaining in her fundraiser how her mother became seriously ill after the discovery of mold in their rental home in April 2021.
“We lost all our belongings and had to stay in Airbnbs as the rental crisis made it difficult for us to find another property,” Alera wrote.
‘The impact of the mold caused my mother to have lung problems. This resulted in more than twelve months of hospital admissions, asthma attacks, ambulance rides, ICU admissions and code blues.
Alera Celesti (pictured with her mother Heather Stevenson) turned to crowdfunding to pay for her private school education after a tragedy left her single mother unable to work for a year
‘I was actually afraid that my mother would die. It was heartbreaking to see my mother turning purple as she struggled to breathe.”
Alera and her mother Heather Stevenson had moved to Geelong from Perth in 2014 and had no family in Victoria.
The teenager said she didn’t want to move back to Western Australia while her mother was ill, so she relied on Kardinia’s staff and school friends to help her through the difficult time.
“I believe forming this bond and connection has helped me stay focused in my education,” Alera said.
‘Not knowing why my mother’s lungs kept collapsing, I wanted to learn more about treatments for these conditions so that I could ultimately help others in these situations.
“This grew into a desire to study medicine and an end goal to become a trauma surgeon.”
Despite her academic ambitions, Alera could no longer go to school because her mother could no longer afford the climbing tuition.
The teenager explained in her fundraiser how her mother (pictured in hospital) became seriously ill after discovering mold in their rental home in April 2021.
Ms Stevenson claims Kardinia has been inflexible with the family’s outstanding tuition debt – which stands at $10,967.10 after she paid more than $17,000 last year.
Alera’s mother said she paid about $1,400 a week for emergency care, on top of weekly payments of $603.26 to the school.
However, she claims costs rose to $1,662.03 per week last August.
Ms. Stevenson told the school she could not afford the new tuition, so the institution made the decision on November 3, 2023 to terminate Alera’s enrollment.
The single mother said the idea of moving schools caused Alera stress and anxiety.
More than 20 of her classmates have written to their principal Catherine Lockhart to reinstate Alera’s enrollment.
“They’re not supporting their own community… we don’t know,” Ms Stevenson told the newspaper Geelong Advertiser.
Ms Stevenson has since been able to return to work and is saving money from two jobs to repay Alera’s outstanding fees.
Ms Stevenson claims Kardinia (pictured) has been inflexible with the family’s outstanding tuition debt – which stands at $10,967.10 after she paid more than $17,000 last year
However, she claims the school told the family that Alera would not be able to re-enroll unless her future school fees were paid in advance.
Alera has also taken up a part-time job at a kebab shop to contribute to her school fees.
Mrs Stevenson hopes her daughter can return to Kardinia after a traumatic year exposed to her mother’s illness.
“My children put me in the ambulance, sometimes I turned blue and couldn’t breathe,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Kardinia said: ‘The council requires all agreed fees and charges to be paid on time to ensure fairness for all families and offers a range of bursaries and bursaries in appropriate circumstances.’