Fewer Options, Not Fewer Ambitions: An International Student's Path to a Future in Technology

By Leng Lim, Last Mile Recipent

I first learned about Last Mile from a TikTok video. Which is really not how I expected to find the thing that would help hold my finances together.

It was fall 2025, and I applied around November. At the time, a lot was happening all at once. I was trying to find work and internships. My family was already using their savings to support my education. My computer screen had broken. And I was responsible for expenses like groceries, transportation, and other everyday costs, because while my parents used their savings to help cover my tuition and rent, I took responsibility for everything else. Several unexpected expenses piled up at once, and as an international student with limited options for working outside of school, that got hard fast.

That last bit matters more than most people might realize. As an F-1 international student, I'm not eligible for federal financial aid through FAFSA, and I can't just take any off-campus job when I need extra income. Employment has to follow the work authorization rules tied to my student status, which has been one of the most frustrating parts of being an international student.

The obvious solution when money is tight is to work more hours or find another job, but that option was much more complicated for F-1 international students. There were also many times when I found a scholarship, internship, or other opportunity that looked perfect, only to get to the eligibility requirements and realize international students could not apply. After experiencing that enough times, I almost came to expect that restriction somewhere on the page.

So when Last Mile came through, there was no catch: no eligibility footnote, no fine print ruling me out. Just help that showed up.

The $595 award helped me cover groceries and transportation. It did not solve every financial challenge I was dealing with, but it gave me breathing room during a period when several expenses were piling up. Being able to cover basic necessities meant I could spend less time worrying about where that money would come from and put more of my attention back into school, applications, and the opportunities I was trying to pursue. The few hundred dollars had a much larger impact than the number might suggest, because it covered the expenses I was struggling to deal with every single day.

Looking back, I think the hardest part of all of this was realizing how much I simply did not know when I first came to the U.S. There were so many systems to learn all at once: financial aid, scholarships, employment authorization, CPT, taxes, Social Security numbers, internships, health insurance, housing, transportation, banking, and everything else that came with being a college student in a new country. There was no single place where I could learn how all of those systems connected. A lot of the time, I did not even know what question I was supposed to ask until I ran into a problem. Over time, I became much better at researching things myself, asking questions, finding resources, and understanding what options were actually available to me. But I definitely wish I had known many of those things earlier.

Last Mile has genuinely been one of those invaluable resources – one of the few places where I found support that was actually accessible to international students. It also opened doors beyond itself: through Last Mile's broader community, I learned about programs like Break Through Tech, and I'm now part of their AI program.

Beyond that, scholarships from my own schools have been extremely important. As an international student who can't rely on federal financial aid, merit scholarships can make a major difference in whether an education is financially realistic. And I've learned how valuable it is to find professors, mentors, staff members, and other students who are willing to explain systems you may have never encountered before. Sometimes one conversation with the right person can save weeks of trying to figure something out alone.

Even so, I wish there were a centralized, practical resource specifically for international students that explained which scholarships and emergency funds actually accept international students, how employment authorization works, what CPT and OPT mean in practice, how taxes work, where to look for internships, what financial resources are available, and which office or person to contact when something goes wrong. A lot of this information exists somewhere, but it's scattered across different websites, schools, government pages, and organizations. When you're new to the U.S., you don't always know what you should even be searching for. 

I also wish I had discovered organizations like Last Mile much earlier.

Here’s something I’d tell other international students: search much more broadly than you think you need to. Don't automatically assume that a scholarship, program, emergency fund, or opportunity is unavailable to you because you're an international student. Check the requirements and apply when you're eligible. There are fewer resources available to us, but they do exist, and some of the most useful opportunities I've found came from places I would never have expected, including – of all places – TikTok, which is where I found Last Mile. 

At the same time, learn visa and employment rules early. I wouldn't build a financial plan around the assumption that I could simply get another off-campus job later if I needed money, because employment for F-1 students has real restrictions. 

And ask questions. I used to feel like I needed to figure everything out myself, but I've learned that knowing who to ask and where to look is part of figuring things out.

When I first came to the U.S., I was trying to understand everything at once — school, money, work authorization, internships, even how to find the right opportunities. I didn't really know what path I was going to end up on. Today, I'm studying Computer Science at Wentworth Institute of Technology. I recently finished a co-op with Harvard University Information Technology, I'm working as an undergraduate AI research assistant, and I'm part of Break Through Tech's AI program. I'm getting the chance to work in technology, research AI, and explore areas like AI/ML, software, and product-focused work. I'm especially drawn to work where I can understand both the technical side and the real people or problems behind it. 

I still feel like I'm figuring out exactly where I want to end up, but I know I want to keep building a career where I can solve meaningful problems, keep learning, and eventually create more stability for myself and my family. The financial side is still very real for me, so I continue looking for scholarships, programs, and opportunities that can reduce some of that burden while I build toward what comes next.

If there's one thing I wish more people understood, it's that the financial challenge for international students isn't just whether you can pay tuition. A family can make an enormous sacrifice to cover tuition and housing and that student can still be one broken computer or one grocery run away from crisis, with fewer ways to earn extra money because of visa restrictions.

That's why something like a $595 award can matter so much. It wasn't about solving everything. It was about not letting every unexpected expense become an emergency I had to solve alone, right then, on top of everything else.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my story. I really appreciate everything Last Mile has done for me, and I hope some part of my experience can be useful to another international student trying to navigate the same systems.