Stormzy donates £9,000 to a student's Harvard crowdfunding campaign

Stormzy has donated £9,000 to a student's crowdfunding campaign so that she can study at Harvard in the US.

Fiona Asiedu, an Oxford University student, had aimed to raise £12,000 in four weeks to be able to pay her tuition fees and other costs.

But it took less than 24 hours for her to reach her goal - thanks mostly to Stormzy's donation.

Fiona has told Newsbeat she's grateful to the rapper for "changing her life" and hopes to take him out to dinner.

Twitter user adaobi asked Stormzy for help.

"My friend tweeted my campaign to Stormzy and he retweeted it," Fiona, who's from Tulse Hill in south London, explains.

"Then ten minutes later my fund had gone up and I only needed £50 to hit my target. So people were messaging me saying, 'Did Stormzy just put money in your account?'

"I went to check and was like, 'OK then, I guess that's come from Stormzy.'"

The rapper's representatives have confirmed to Newsbeat that the donation - which was initially made under his real name Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Junior - was from him.

Fiona will start her masters in human development and psychology in August.

The 21-year-old says she needed £59,000 for "tuition, health, rent and utilities, books and supplies, transportation and personal expenses".

But after help from her family and bursaries she was still £12,000 short, so she set up a crowdfunding page.

"Getting into Harvard was incredible, so not having the money for it was really frustrating," Fiona says.

She's now raised more than her target but says she plans to use the excess to help other working class, black students afford higher education.

"It's such an amazing thing to give back," she says.

"We've all seen how this has changed my life and I think it will be great if we can change other people's lives too."

Fiona was vice-president of Oxford University's African and Caribbean society last year, which Stormzy visited last March.

Oxford ACS tweeted a picture last year calling Stormzy an "absolute inspiration".

Fiona and her friends have offered to take the grime artist out for dinner to say thanks and it looks like he's up for it.

He responded with "deal" when one of Fiona's friends offered to take him for a Nando's.

Fiona Asiedu replied saying she didn't want to miss out.

We asked her what her message to the grime artist would be.

"I love you Stormzy," she told Newsbeat. "Thanks for changing my life.

"I hope one day I can repay you, I don't know how but the offer of chicken still stands."

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