Some college students living in Denver are turning to crowdfunding sites to pay for student loans.
As the $1.2 trillion national student loan debt continues to grow, some are asking friends, family and even strangers to help them complete school. Adrianne Garcia is one of those people. She started a crowdfunding page to help her pay for her summer semester.
Garcia is pursuing an art degree at Metro State University and is the first person in her family to attempt getting a bachelor's degree. However, her financial aid wouldn't cover school over the summer.
"Every semester you're allotted a certain amount of money and when you're an art major you spend a lot of that on supplies," Garcia said. "I did it. It was really scary. I didn't think anyone would care or be able to donate."
Garcia raised $1,900, which is $200 more than what she was asking for, and was able to pay for her school and books.
"I feel like people really cared and related to me," Garcia said. "Even if they didn't know me, I think they saw something about themselves in what I was trying to do."
Garcia isn't alone. Denver7 found five other crowdfunding sites in which people were asking for money for school.
Kati Stanford has her art degree, but is pursuing a Masters at University of Denver for Alternative Dispute Resolution. Her Gofundme.com page asks for money so she can sell art to pay for college.
"I was feeling so discouraged. I didn't feel like I could cover the cost of even my first quarter of grad school," Standford said.
Financial aid and scholarships didn't seem like they would pay for school.
"I remember I was sitting in a coffee shop and I was working on all of these scholarships and I was just feeling so frustrated," Stanford said. "I though, why not. Why not do this?"
Here are three other crowdfunding sites we found that have been set up by other students:
