Earlier this month, International Parsons student Hyun Shik had to drop his classes due to financial reasons. His father is in jail in Korea for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of unpaid debt.

Two of his friends, Andra Nicolescu, an international student from Turkey studying architecture at Parsons, and Shik’s roommate, Win Rojanastien from Thailand, have raised over $4,000 to help Shik go home to try to get his father out of jail, and deal with his family problems.

“We knew about [his financial problems] from last semester because he started missing classes. But he came to me personally because he knew I had a similar problem,” Nicolescu told the Free Press. “[Shik] knew that I had to talk to the school to get more financial help and that’s how he approached me.”

Shik’s friends turned to Give Forward, an online site dedicated to fundraising for medical bills specifically for families and loved ones in need. They didn’t disclose the details of his family’s debt.

“We needed the money as soon as possible so we only put it up for two days,” Nicolescu said.

Shik’s friends have also collected cash donations from friends, students, faculty and friends of friends within the Parsons community. They have collected over $1,000 in cash, and have also set up an Ebay store where they bought and sold items, which has brought in an additional $3,000. All together, his friends raised $10,000.

“It was really students who felt like they wanted to help,” Rojanastien said.

Although Victoria Benatar, a New York City architect and professor at Parsons, was one of the few teachers who donated money to the campaign.

“I thought this was an amazing initiative of the students and very brave of him to open up and reach out for help,” Victoria Benatar said. “I feel lucky and proud to be part of the Parsons community, where we care about our classmates and students as shown with this initiative.”

“He is really happy,” Rojanastien said. “And he didn’t think that many people would care about others, especially those who don’t even know him.”

Shik flew back to Korea last week with the money raised in New York City by his friends.

“This was a really great gift [to] get him going, but we need a sustainable plan when he goes back because we can’t do fundraising forever,” Rojanastien said. “So we are trying to find new plans to get a cycle going on to pay the debt that him and his parents [are in] right now.”