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Western Michigan University
(File photo)
KALAMAZOO, MI -- A Western Michigan University student who started an online fundraiser to help her return to the United States from a study abroad trip now says she will give the money back.
Stephanie Lanphear spent the first part of summer teaching English in Japan. She was supposed to go to South Korea for the second leg of her study abroad trip, but her host university canceled the program due to an outbreak of MERS.
Lanphear started a GoFundMe site saying WMU had stranded her in Japan with no way to get home. WMU spokeswoman Cheryl Roland says that's not the case.
"We would never leave a student stranded anywhere," Roland said. "There are sometimes changes to study abroad programs because of changes in host countries that no one would know in advance."
Roland said Lanphear has been in "constant contact" with her advisors at WMU, and that the university has other avenues, such as emergency loans, to help students book flights home.
In an update on the GoFundMe site Wednesday evening, Lanphear thanked people who donated money and apologized that the situation "blew up beyond what I thought it would."
"Really, all I'd wanted to do was to make sure I got home," Lanphear wrote.
Lanphear's supporters - more than 100 of them - had raised more than $2,000 for her in about 24 hours. Her GoFundMe link was shared more than 3,000 times on social media. Lanphear did not respond to the Kalamazoo Gazette's request for comment.
Lanphear said in the update she is returning the money donated through GoFundMe because a loan solution provided to her is a better choice, though she added that she did not know if the loan was still an option because of the controversy.
In a separate update, Lanphear wrote that the GoFundMe account was intended as a fall-back if she didn't get help otherwise.
"Yes, I pointed a finger at Western when I made the account for failing to help me, which, at the time, was true," she wrote. "Whether there were good intentions or no intentions at all behind those I was emailing (is) irrelevant, there were crossed wires within the communications I was receiving that led to confusion and defensive actions on my part to ensure I could get home. I did not anticipate that I would get the response that I did, or that people would rally the way they have."
Emily Monacelli covers higher education and craft beer for the Kalamazoo Gazette. Contact her at emonacel@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter.