Barrier busters | Emergency funds help students weather storms
Among the many relief efforts put in place in the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, one is designed specifically to help the region’s community college students stay on track.
The $2 million effort –- funded by Lumina Foundation for Education and administered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Scholarship America –- provides emergency stipends of up to $1,000 to low-income students in Louisiana and Mississippi.
AACC and Scholarship America will work through the colleges’financial aid offices to distribute the stipends to low-income students who have been affected by the hurricanes. The awards may be used for tuition, fees, books, room and board, or other education-related expenses.
Though the individual grants are small, a timely grant can make a huge difference to these students, according to research released by MDRC last fall. Most of them live near the colleges they attend,so their home lives, jobs and education were likely all interrupted by the hurricanes.
Also, many of these students faced significant financial challenges well before the hurricanes hit. For instance, if they attend part time, they are ineligible for federal grants and loans designed to aid traditional students. Any small emergency (car trouble, a problem with child care, an unexpected household expense) can play havoc with their school schedules –- hence the value of stopgap, emergency funds.
Other programs that provide this type of temporary assistance (including the Lumina Foundation-funded Dreamkeepers Emergency Financial Aid program administered through Scholarship America and the American Indian College Fund) are helping keep at-risk students on track when unforeseen setbacks occur.
That’s one reason AACC President George Boggs is excited about the potential of the hurricane-relief fund. He says it offers “new hope for thousands of students whose learning opportunities and futures might otherwise have been permanently disrupted.”
Steve Giegerich, formerly an education writer for the Associated Press and recently a journalism instructor at Columbia University, is a staff writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The $2 million effort –- funded by Lumina Foundation for Education and administered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and Scholarship America –- provides emergency stipends of up to $1,000 to low-income students in Louisiana and Mississippi.
AACC and Scholarship America will work through the colleges’financial aid offices to distribute the stipends to low-income students who have been affected by the hurricanes. The awards may be used for tuition, fees, books, room and board, or other education-related expenses.
Though the individual grants are small, a timely grant can make a huge difference to these students, according to research released by MDRC last fall. Most of them live near the colleges they attend,so their home lives, jobs and education were likely all interrupted by the hurricanes.
Also, many of these students faced significant financial challenges well before the hurricanes hit. For instance, if they attend part time, they are ineligible for federal grants and loans designed to aid traditional students. Any small emergency (car trouble, a problem with child care, an unexpected household expense) can play havoc with their school schedules –- hence the value of stopgap, emergency funds.
Other programs that provide this type of temporary assistance (including the Lumina Foundation-funded Dreamkeepers Emergency Financial Aid program administered through Scholarship America and the American Indian College Fund) are helping keep at-risk students on track when unforeseen setbacks occur.
That’s one reason AACC President George Boggs is excited about the potential of the hurricane-relief fund. He says it offers “new hope for thousands of students whose learning opportunities and futures might otherwise have been permanently disrupted.”
Steve Giegerich, formerly an education writer for the Associated Press and recently a journalism instructor at Columbia University, is a staff writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
