In Pursuit of Education for All with Dr. Faith Okpotor

Episode 34 Description

Education can change lives, and while college is often seen as the onramp to success, so often we forget about the financial burden that comes with earning a degree. Dr. Faith Okpotor is changing the lives of students through her powerful project, College Fully Funded.

Faith is a college professor of international relations, researching political violence and international security, with a special emphasis on Africa. Today, she joins Christine on the Yes! We Rise podcast, sharing her educational journey from Nigeria to the U.S. and earning her PhD. Find inspiration and hope as you learn more about Faith and the incredible work she is doing. Welcome.

Download the show Notes

Episode 34 Show Notes

find this episode on youtube

Key takeaways

Pursuing education and a hard-earned PhD

Faith Okpotor was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. She was quite successful in grade school and was encouraged to move toward the sciences. When she was younger, she wanted to be a medical doctor. In Nigeria, after high school, everyone takes the West African Examination Council exams and Faith had one of the best scores in the country!

A teacher encouraged her to study abroad, and ultimately she ended up at Hampshire College in Amherst, MA. Faith studied microbiology and creative writing, and then did her thesis research at Stanford in a transplant immunology lab. 

After finishing her undergraduate degree, she became an intern on Capitol Hill, working in news while getting a Master’s in Journalism. Covering politics ultimately sparked Faith’s interest in learning more.

In 2009, Faith began applying for PhD programs. After being rejected from programs she applied to, she took a break and went on a backpacking adventure across Asia. She visited family, reconnected with former professors, and met new people. Learning and growing through her travels, Faith reapplied, and this time was accepted. She returned stateside and obtained her PhD from the University of Delaware.

Her journey was long and weaved through many areas of study, but it was exactly right for Faith. It provided her with experience and knowledge and developed her passion for helping other students succeed in their educational pursuits.

The creation of College Fully Funded 

Today, Faith works in higher education, teaching international relations courses that cover African politics, international relations, and politics of developing nations. She also conducts research around post-conflict situations in West Africa. In addition to her day work, Faith also has a passion for working with students who struggle with funding college.

College is viewed as the onramp to life. It is thought that if you go to college you’ll attain your dream job and ultimately become at least part of the middle class. But what about school debt? Faith has observed how students either take out so many loans, that when they graduate, they’re already in poverty, or students are working extensively while pursuing education that they miss out on the experience.

Through her new program College Fully Funded, Faith provides college admissions coaching for students from communities historically excluded from higher ed, and to help them, as she puts it, “start on a good footing [and] get into college, fully funded.”

More than 100 colleges in the United States have already committed to fully funding students beyond the expected family contribution!

From experiencing struggle to offering a solution

When Faith came to the United States for college, loans were unavailable to her as a non-US citizen. To afford college she had to apply to colleges who provided financial support to get funding for what her family could not cover.

Inspired by her own experience, College Fully Funded is Faith’s way of supporting aspiring students to attain their dreams without the burden of debt. Part of this includes helping students navigate the world of academia. Many of them are the first generation in their family to attend higher education, and because of this they are often unaware of what is available to them. From office hours to connecting with professors to connecting them with affordable programs, Faith’s vision is to do her part in helping students have the best possible experience.

Faith is launching a 10 week program this fall which will help students select potential schools, write a standout college application essay, complete financial aid forms, and apply to schools. The goal is that by the end of the program, students will be ready to submit their applications to colleges. 

Through the challenges she herself faced, Faith has created a beautiful program that provides support, structure, peer to peer connection, and guidance so that students no longer have to come up against the struggles and roadblocks that so many face.

notable quotes from Faith

“I spent a lot of time there just every day waking up thinking, visiting places around the country, writing, journaling, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. And that’s when I went back to my roots.” 

“College is often touted as the vehicle for upward mobility. Go to college, get a good job, and… you get entrance into the middle class. But at the same time, everybody forgets the issue of debt.”

“The assurance that the finances are sort of taken care of, those things are actually top of mind for people when they’re deciding about the choice to go to college or which college to go.”

“I stay the course, for people who could not go the distance so that people like me, can also go the distance after me.” 

“Higher education is going through all kinds of growing pains right now. And what makes me excited is what’s going to come out at the end of that. Definitely things are going to change, but hopefully they change for the better.”

“Nobody goes the distance alone. We all need support. So look for those people who are doing things that you want to do, learn from them, and look for people who are also on the same journey as you so that you can give each other support.”

“Resilience really depends on finding community, communities that support you, people that you’re comfortable with, that can go on the journey with you.”

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Learn more about Faith Okpotor and her new program: College Fully Funded! You can also email her at collegefullyfunded@gmail.com.

The Yes! We Rise podcast features solutions-seekers, change-makers, and those creating a resilient future. We share stories and strategies to inspire action to build resilience and community transformation. To create change, people need to feel like they belong and that they are part of a growing movement. They need to know their voice matters and that they have the inspiration, agency and ability to transform their lives and their communities. They are the key to a resilient future.

From the Navajo Nation to the mountains of Appalachia, incredible work is being done by community members and leaders. Change is often sparked by inspiration: seeing what others have done, especially in similar situations and places. People see that when someone looks like them or lives in a place like theirs, and has created real, true and lasting change, change that will allow their granddaughters and grandsons to thrive — they begin to imagine what might be possible for them. No longer waiting for someone else to come and save them, they realize they are the ones they have been waiting for. But what creates that spark? What creates that inspiration? Learning through stories and examples, feeling a sense of agency and belonging, and getting fired up to kick ass creates that spark.

We Rise helps community leaders and members learn to forge a new path toward creating resilience and true transformation. One person at a time, one community at a time, one region at a time, the quilt of transformation can grow piece by piece until resilience becomes the norm instead of the exception. Together, we rise.