Chay Scholars
Educational support for students overseas with a genuine interest in healthcare
Students in grades 6–12 with a genuine interest in healthcare, whose families live outside the United States in long‑term service — missionary, humanitarian, development, educational, diplomatic or military — and who have no local access to tutoring, test preparation or a test center.
About the program
Academic support for students who want it and cannot reach it
Chay Scholars pays for the academic help that a motivated student cannot get where they live.
The students we serve are not behind for lack of ability or effort. They are studying in places where the ordinary things — a tutor for the subject a parent cannot teach, a practice exam, a proctored test center, an adult who knows when applications are due — either do not exist nearby or cost more than a family in long‑term overseas service can spend on them.
Students everywhere work just as hard. What they can reach is not the same. What is actually available varies enormously — by country, by city, by family. One has a test center down the road and nobody who can teach the subject they are failing. One has a good school and no idea when the applications are due. One has neither. There is no typical case, which is why we ask rather than assume.
So we make that access possible. What that means depends on the student — a tutor for the subject that is hardest to reach, the exam fees, the books, and an adult who keeps the calendar so a deadline does not quietly pass.
We work in grades 6 through 12 on purpose. Almost all the help that exists for these families arrives at college, by which point the transcript is written and the scores are set. The years before it are the ones that decide whether college is even a question — and almost nobody funds them.
There is no income test. We ask what academic help a student can reach where they live, and we pay for what is missing.
How this started. In 2026 we met missionary families in the Dominican Republic by chance, during a separate medical and dental mission trip. Their older children kept asking a version of the same question: how do I get from here to a university in the United States. Nobody near them was answering it. Chay Scholars was built around that question, and we have since established a relationship with someone there who can meet a family in person.
Beginning in 2026, we are starting with the children of missionary families in the Dominican Republic. That is the community we know and the one place where we can verify a posting, meet a family and place a tutor properly.
Why we are starting in one country. Every tutor is background‑checked. Every session is recorded. Scheduling runs through the tutoring center we partner with. Keeping those promises takes someone on the ground who can meet a family and verify a posting, so we open a country once we have that relationship. We grow slowly, and every student we take on gets the program working as it should.
What you do for other people matters more than what you do for yourself.
The principle Kyu lived by
What a place usually covers
These are the usual items. What a particular student needs is agreed with them at the start of the year.
We pay providers directly wherever we can — the tutor, the College Board, the bookseller, the school. Where a family has already paid something themselves, an exam fee for instance, we reimburse them against the receipt.
- TutoringA weekly or fortnightly hour with a screened tutor in the subject you need most.
- ExamsSAT, PSAT and AP fees, including the extra fee the College Board charges to sit an exam outside the United States.
- MaterialsBooks and a calculator — bought digitally where possible, or bought locally and reimbursed against the receipt. A device or connection only where a family genuinely cannot manage one.
- CalendarInformation and reminders about U.S. admissions and exam dates. Meeting them stays with the student and the family.
What we provide
Excellent study material already exists and costs nothing anywhere in the world — Khan Academy’s official SAT practice and Schoolhouse.world’s tutoring are both free.
What a student abroad needs is the rest of it: a tutor, a connection that holds for an hour, the fee for the exam, and someone who knows what month the applications are due. That is what we provide.
What an award is
Agreed with each student at the start of the year, and set down in writing so everyone knows what has been committed to. Renewal depends on attendance and effort.
Every scholar has a written allocation, the same for everyone in their grade band, set before the year begins. Spending beyond it needs approval from the selection committee — so no one student quietly uses what two others needed.
Younger students are usually fortnightly. Juniors and seniors are weekly, because the exams fall in those years.
How we decide
Two stages, so nobody is judged on something they cannot control.
- FirstEligibility. Three things, and all three have to be true. Is your family posted overseas in long-term service? Is there a real barrier between you and ordinary academic support — no tutor locally, no counselor who knows U.S. admissions? And is there a genuine interest in healthcare — nursing, medicine, dentistry, surgery or another health profession? This part is yes or no.
- ThenYour own words. Among everyone eligible, we read the student’s written statement and watch their video. We are looking for what you want and whether you will show up for it. Film it on a phone — that is all it needs to be.
- WhoA selection committee of at least three people, none related to any applicant, against published criteria, with the decision recorded in writing.
How tutors are chosen
- ScreenedEvery tutor passes a background check — criminal record, sex offender registry, identity — before a first session.
- CommittedEvery tutor holds the same weekly slot for a full term, gives notice before missing one, and files a short summary after every session.
- RecordedEvery session is recorded, and a summary is emailed after each one.
- OpenSessions are arranged through the tutoring center we partner with, and we see the record. No personal phone numbers, no private messaging between a tutor and a student.
What a parent sees
A short summary after every session — what was covered, what to do next, and whether the student showed up — and a progress card each month with attendance, hours and how things are going.
Our coordinator in the country keeps an eye on all of it. They know the families, they see the progress cards, and they are the person to talk to if something is not working.
If a student misses sessions without notice we call the family before we do anything else. Usually it is the internet, a schedule change or a sick sibling, and usually we can fix it.
Apply
Application
How many students we can take depends entirely on what donors raise. We reply to everyone who writes.
We take on a student once that student’s support is funded. Each time that happens, there is one more place. See the full breakdown.
What we will ask for
Four things. None of them require money, equipment or polish.
- A short written statement from the student — up to 300 words, in their own words, about what they want help with, and where their interest in healthcare comes from.
- A short video. Two minutes or less, uploaded to YouTube as unlisted, in which the student talks about what they hope to do and how this would help them get there. Filmed on a phone is perfect.
- A letter from the organization, agency, church or unit the parent serves with, confirming the role, the country and that the posting is long‑term. Families serving independently may send two letters of reference instead.
- One reference from a teacher, tutor or parent‑educator.
Coming soon
Applications open soon
We are opening Chay Scholars to its first students shortly. If your family is posted overseas and you would like to be told the moment applications open, write to us and we will put you on the list — there is nothing to fill in yet.