A Leazes fresher started a GoFundMe page to pay off her overdraft

The struggle is real for this first year who set up her own GoFundMe page to raise £500 so she could get out of her overdraft.

Meet the Emma McCormick from Castle Leazes who decided to create a GoFundMe page to try and raise money to get out of her overdraft.

The description says: “After embarking on a voyage to the mainland (aka England) I’ve faced the hardships that every student has underwent. The costs of nightclub entry and trebles do add up, whilst the overdraft hits sky rocket figures. If Kanye West can receive donations I hope I can too xoxo”

She shared a link to it on her Facebook page saying, “help a student out mate”, which got 194 likes.

We spoke to her about how it all began.

So firstly, how did you manage to get into your overdraft? Has the situation improved at all?

I guess moving away from home and living somewhere like Newcastle is a blessing and a curse. Cheap drink and knowing you could go out any night and it’ll be good craic easily leads to going out four nights a week. Having friends at other unis is also a problem as you’re easily lured into going down to Liverpool for the weekend or up to Glasgow – which all adds up. I’ve got my overdraft capped at 250 recently but now trying to extend it to 1500 for summer.

What gave you the idea for the GoFundMe page?

I came up with the idea of the page after a night out. I was reading a group chat from back home and everyone was moaning about their financial situation. Then someone mentioned how Kanye West had set up a GoFundMe page to eradicate his debt, and thus we turned to odds on. Being northern Irish doing something for the banter is always a valid reason, jokes on them though cause I got a tenner out of setting it up.

So far you are only £10 closer to your £500 target, are you disappointed with the amount of people that have donated to the cause?

Definitely. I’m heartbroken thought my mates could have spared a quid, turns out you can only donate a minimum of five online, so some of them have got me a drink on a night out or chucked us their spare change in aid of keeping the joke going. Even the other night my flatmate had a friend round and he mentioned seeing the status and gave me the change in his wallet, saying it had given him a good laugh.

What’s your favourite night/club in Newcastle?

It varies but at the moment I really like Digi and world HQ.

Do you find that the majority of your money will go on alcohol then?

During first term definitely it would have, British logic ain’t it? Throw together groups of strangers into living together and how they get to know each other is through drinking. Nothing helps you bond more than a few hours in the Trent. Since then I’ve found my money goes on some pretty cool things we’ve found to do in Newcastle, we’ve near enough been to every coffee shop we could find here – turns out a coffee is dearer than a treble, like the cinema, ice skating, going to the beach, random days away which are probably more justifiable than alcohol. I also made some pretty random splurges, my flatmate bought a bike so I bought a bike.

What’s the most surreal/bizarre thing that’s happened to you on a night out?

Hmm that’s a difficult one. Newcastle has been pretty tame so far but a few stick out. During freshers a group of us were in one of our fave trebles bar when we unknowingly stumbled into their cellar in attempt to try and find our way back upstairs. As we looked round we saw we were surrounded by crate loads of drink and ended up taking a bottle each. We bolted out of there pretty quick having to down the bottle in the street after realising they probably got the whole thing on CCTV. Worst part was they didn’t even have spirits in there some it was like fucking Kopparberg.

Another one that stuck out was one time I asked Lethal Bizzle in a club (not knowing who he was) if he could help me find my mates – proper nice guy as he did help me.

However the most surreal was probably when my flatmate lost my new trainers that were like 65 quid at Stormzy.  I spent a solid hour trying to find them with one ending up being returned via the MC who was on stage.

A politician once said to me ‘do first, apologise later. It’s good motto to live by, a little risk makes everything more exciting.’

So if you would like to sponsor this poor fresher for a donation as little as £5 that can provide this first year with a round of trebles, please donate here.