BOSTON (CBS) – Emerson College sophomore Donnie Collins is not your typical student. The 20-year-old says before he arrived on campus he came out as transgender. Now he wants to undergo a female to male procedure to remove his breasts.

“The operation is a double incision which is removing my breast tissue so my chest will be flat. I don’t think of it as a sex change but making my body congruent of how I see myself,” Donnie Collins says.

The problem is that the school insurance policy will not cover the cost of the $8,000 surgery. Donnie says he refused to give up and now members of his new fraternity, Phi Alpha Tau, are reaching out to the college community to help raise money to cover the cost of the surgery. They have raised more than $12,000 already.

“I’m overwhelmed and surprised. I can’t thank everyone enough,” Collins said.

Emerson students have mixed emotions. “I think something personal like a sex change should be private. I don’t feel other people’s money should change my gender,” one student said.

All of Collins’ fraternity brothers strongly support his decision. “We see Donnie as a brother and we want to support him in this endeavor,” Phi Alpha Tau President John Allen said.