Till May 2006, Ankur Shanker had little to complain about. A Delhi College of Engineering pass-out, the Noida based 24-year-old had everything he wanted: a job in which he could pursue his passion for analysing data, a degree from a prestigious college, and a burning desire to go to the London School of Economics (LSE). He had applied to LSE in March 2006, a little too late for scholarships, but he hoped that the finances would be taken care of later. Yet when the letter of acceptance finally arrived in May, Shanker was shaken.

“I had got admission, but because I didn’t have an economics degree, the college wanted me to attend summer school as well,” says Shanker. Put together, the fee for the summer school and the MSc course in economics worked out to be much more than he could manage to raise.

In desperation, Shanker wrote to almost every financial institution in London, promising to work with them for a period of five years if only they would pay for his studies. “Eight to nine per cent of the companies replied. All of them said their policy did not allow for such financing,” says Shanker. “Just after that, they would write, ‘All the best for your studies.’ The letters frustrated me no end.”

Student loans were also not an option, as the fee was too high — £55,000, including the fee for summer school, the two-year course, and living costs. Shanker did not want to surrender his parent’s only house as collateral for a loan. With no options left, he deferred his admission by one year. Yet time for arranging finances was fast passing by. “At that point I asked a business associate for help. He just looked at me and said, ‘You have nine months to get creative’,” recalls Shankar.

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