Twenty-five of the 61 students, who were stranded after the US-based University of Texas (UT) at Tyler revoked full scholarships granted for their undergraduate programmes for the August intake, have got placement in several American universities.

Following appeals by the students through different channels, around a dozen universities have offered full-ride scholarships and full scholarships to those who had their offers rescinded. Drake University, University of Kentucky (UoK), SUNY Korea (State University of New York in Korea), Texas Christian University, University of Akron, University of Denver (UoD), University of Kentucky, Robert Morris University, College of Idaho, Cladwell University, Bethune Cookman and UT Arlington have agreed to accommodate the students.

Twenty of them have got full-ride scholarships, which cover tuition and accommodation, while five others got full tuition scholarship. Joan Liu, university advisor at the United World College in Singapore, who has been helping out the students, said, “We are working together with EducationUSA in Kathmandu to find placement for the deceived students.” She has also been lobbying with different universities to place the students.

Roman Shrestha, one of the students who were denied the promised scholarship, told the Post after getting offer from the UoD that lobbying from different channels and media coverage helped them find new universities. “We are lucky to get new placement. We are still hopeful that our remaining friends will get placement soon too,” he said.

The UT at Tyler had agreed to provide full scholarships worth $21,000 a year for four years, covering tuition fees, accommodation, meals and books. The university, however, had revoked the scholarships two months later, after collecting $100 in scholarship confirmation fee and $125 as housing deposits. The students were preparing to join the university when it communicated its failure to honour the pledge. The university, which is part of the University of Texas that includes 14 colleges in the state of Texas, had granted full scholarship to 84 students with SAT score of 1,350 and good academic records. However, it revoked the scholarship of 61 students stating that it could not afford to provide the committed scholarships as the demand exceeded its budget.

The students said there are other universities offering partial scholarships but they were still waiting for full scholarship offers. The Western Illinois University has offered blanket scholarship of $40,000 for four years to all those whose scholarships fell through if they wish to join it. “We are looking if we can add lodging facilities for them,” said Shanker Ghimire, a professor at the university.