Georgetown University has given Seth
Owen – the Jacksonville, Florida gay valedictorian who was rejected
by his parents – a full scholarship.
Owen's parents kicked him out of their
house after he underwent a year of attempted therapy to alter his
sexual orientation.
Jane Martin, Owen's former teacher, set
up a GoFundMe
page to raise money for his tuition to Georgetown after the
university refused to alter his financial aid package that had been
determined based on the expected contribution of his family. Owen
has said that taking out a loan was not possible because his parents
refused to co-sign.
The goal was to raise $20,000 to cover
Owen's first year of tuition and make “the impossible possible.”
Instead, Martin raised nearly $134,000.
On Friday, it was announced that
Georgetown had decided to offer Owen, 18, a full scholarship.
“I am honored to be selected to
attend Georgetown University and am elated that I am now able to
attend Georgetown because of the gracious donations to the GoFundMe
campaign and the efforts of the Office of Student Financial
Services,” Owen said in a statement given to NBCNews.
Owen told NBC that he plans to give
away some of the money raised to help other LGBT students.
“At the moment, I am in process of
exploring the establishment of a scholarship to help LGBTQ+ scholars
who find themselves in the circumstance I was in earlier this year,”
he
said. “I am looking forward to utilizing the resources of
Georgetown to help with this effort.”