A desperate student who dreams of becoming a surgeon has issued a public plea for help to pay her tuition fees.Annefa Burke, who grew up in Bermuda and has a Permanent Residency Certificate, faces being kicked off her university course in England.Contacting this newspaper, the 22-year-old said she was at her “wits end”.She explained: “I am currently studying biomedical science at the University of Brighton. However this could all end in the blink of an eye, as I am not able to afford £5,500 (approximately $8,747) to pay off the rest of my tuition. The university has threatened to exclude me permanently if I cannot pay this by May 29. I have had to struggle most of my life to get where I am now, and I feel I have exhausted all of my resources.”Miss Burke, from Warwick, is the daughter of Marcia Carmichael, who works at the hospital as a personal assistant. Her father, Audley Burke, a teacher, died last year. Miss Burke studied at Bermuda High School for Girls before travelling to England for university.Her annual tuition fees are in the region of £11,000 (approximately $17,496), since she does not qualify for home student rates in the UK. Her parents hail from Jamaica, although she moved here aged nine and got her PRC around 18 months ago.Miss Burke explained: “All I have is myself and my mother’s support and she has no way of affording to take care of my educational needs right now.”She said she is struggling to work two jobs as well as study full-time. She works all night at a supermarket on Fridays and Saturdays and works as a child carer in between her studies too.“As you can imagine, this has been a struggle. I have such an intensive university workload and this added stress has affected how much of my attention I can devote to school work as I am constantly exhausted from my night shifts on weekends and other work on weekdays,” she said.“However, I still have not given up and have managed to attain a B average in my course work and have passed my exams to date. All I want in this life is to finish school and be a better person for Bermuda. My aim is to one day be a general surgeon, but right now I can see my dreams slowly fading off into the distance, all because of monetary issues.”Ms Burke said now she has PRC status, she is applying for grants and scholarships for the next academic year, when she wants to apply to medical school. Those applications were not an option for her before she got status. However, she still faces the immediate problem of paying her tuition for the rest of this academic year.“If there is a way the public can offer any financial assistance or advice, I would be eternally grateful. I am not ready to give up on my dream just yet,” she said.Miss Burke said she was making the public appeal “with great sadness”, but explained: “I would do anything to achieve my goals”.Anyone who can assist Miss Burke should contact her on agburkie@gmail.com.l Are you facing a similar problem? E-mail news@rg.bm.