UVU Community Gives Back to Students with Emergency Student Fund

UVU’s Care Task Force has created a Student Emergency Fund to provide one-time scholarships to eligible students with an emergency necessity.

   

What would you do if you had to choose between paying your rent or paying tuition? Students nationwide are increasingly faced with the decision of paying for a life necessity (rent, medical prescription, utility bill, etc.) or paying for school, and it’s resulted in an elevated rate of college dropouts. To combat this trend and help students achieve their graduation goals, UVU’s Care Task Force has created a Student Emergency Fund to provide one-time scholarships to eligible students with an emergency necessity.

“The average emergency necessity expense of a UVU student is between $50 and 500,” said Alexis Palmer, dean of students at UVU. “It’s such a small amount when compared to the value of the education they have to give up. This fund helps students with unplanned emergency expenses so they don’t have to choose between school and a basic need.”

When the scholarship opened in August 2019, the first student application was received in less than 48 hours. Since then, 165 students have received scholarships from the fund. Situations like COVID-19 led to an influx of applicants, and from fall 2019 to spring 2020, the Student Emergency Fund saw student applications jump over 480%.

“These scholarships are 100% funded through donations,” said Palmer. “There are so many UVU students with basic needs but if we don’t have the donations, we can’t continue the fund. These students are assets to both UVU and the community and we want to see them all graduate.”

Applicant statistics show that:

  • 47% are students of color
  • 60% identify as female
  • 5% are first-year students
  • 41% request an amount less than $500
  • They have a 3.21 median GPA
  • They are enrolled in an average of 12 credits

Applications and donations for the Student Emergency Fund can be sent through the Student Care website.Donations can also be made at the UVU Campus Store, UVU Post Office, or Campus Connection where patrons are encouraged to round up their purchase to the nearest dollar and donate that change to the fund.

“Every donation counts,” Palmer said. “UVU is a community, and community takes care of each other. This fund is a great way for the UVU community to support its students.”

 
 
 

Read More