It’s 2 a.m. in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but Maisha Khan is wide awake. She’s between online classes – and smiling from ear to ear.
“I always had a thing for genetic engineering,” she says enthusiastically. “But I’m an undergrad, and most universities don’t have a broad program like McGill’s. It's very intense, but very interesting.”
Khan came to McGill thanks to financial support from the Sir William Macdonald Scholarship. She also received donor-supported need-based funding, including the Tom Routledge Student Bursary and the SSMU Access Bursary, which is funded by McGill students.
These awards helped bridge her family’s financial gap to pay for her studies – and also introduced her to the Scholarships and Student Aid Office, including Financial Aid Counsellor Alison Mackay.
Ever since, Mackay has been a familiar face, helping Khan connect with the services she needed. In 2020, this included securing urgent funding through the Student Emergency Support Fund and deferring her tuition when the Bangladeshi economy shut down – and guidance on accessing mental health support.
Burdened by mounting stress and anxiety, Khan seriously considered ending her studies. But encouraged by her friends and family, she reached out to Mackay, who connected her with the Student Wellness Hub and the counselling she needed.
“Now, I am healing to be that passionate person who first came to McGill,” she says. “I saw the dream when I boarded the flight to Canada for the first time: that this is what I want to be.”
In a year fraught with challenges, Khan has forged ahead, and graduation is in sight. Law school is next: with the speed of biotechnology innovation, she believes there is a need for legal experts with her academic background.
Every year, donors help students like Maisha Khan reach their dreams. In 2020, close to 4,500 donors to The McGill Fund chose to direct their gifts to scholarships and student aid, with gifts of all sizes adding up to $1.4 million. Others established new named awards, including through the Chancellor’s Third Century Challenge Fund. The Honourable Michael Meighen, BA'60, LLD'12, created this matching fund with the aim to generate awards for students with financial need; in 2019 and 2020, more than 30 new bursaries were established as donors answered the call.
“Every drop helps make an ocean,” Khan says. “Your $10 combines with another person’s $10, and that helps a student like me.”
“Throughout my life, every step I go, every success I achieve, I will think back that one day, someone helped me financially. And that's why I'm here.”
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For Alison Mackay, BA’09, helping students is her job – but it’s also personal. “When I saw the Financial Aid Counsellor posting, I knew this job was perfect for me,” she explains, “because I dealt with a lot of the same circumstances in my own life.”
“I remember being 12 years old and wondering how I would pay for university,” she says. “I knew I would be going to university, but I also knew my family wouldn't be able to help me.”
Today, Mackay works at the University’s Scholarships and Student Aid Office, helping students from a wide variety of backgrounds navigate unfamiliar waters. “We end up with a unique perspective on the student’s experience,” she says, “because their aid application touches on every aspect of their circumstances. And we get to see them over the course of their McGill journey.”
As part of Student Services, the office can also connect students to academic support, mental health services, and other resources they might not be aware of, or that they may be unsure of how to access.
“Students are sometimes nervous when they come to our office,” she explains. “It's human nature that many of us don’t like to ask for help.” But as the conversation progresses, Mackay says that the change is undeniable: “I have definitely seen physical changes in a student just during that first appointment. Their shoulders relax; their whole expression changes.”
What causes this transformation? “I think it’s the relief of talking to someone, and also knowing that there's a plan.” As Mackay is quick to point out, the office disburses funding, but also coaches students on financial literacy and budgeting, skills that help them long after graduation.
Mackay has been in her role for four years now, which means she has been able to see students from her first cohort graduate, many of them with the help of need-based support provided by donors.
“It's really rewarding to get to that point,” she says. “You see them develop, evolve, and learn. Then you see them succeed, and it’s so rewarding,” says Mackay. “And our whole society benefits; we need people from different financial backgrounds in leadership roles.”
Mackay says donor support makes a world of difference. “Sometimes I meet students, and I think to myself, ‘This person is going places.’ But then their financial circumstances change, and without support, the prospect of completing their education could be thrown into jeopardy. I can think of other students I know who never would have gotten to McGill in the first place without funding.”
“Donor support is life-changing for students. I see the proof every day,” she says. “It may seem like your gift helps in a moment, but really, you’re helping someone for the rest of their life.”