\u201cEarly on in the virus, we were hearing from students on our team and in our network that they were being laid off from jobs, that they were having their campuses shut down, and in some cases they were being evicted from their housing,\u201d explained Maxwell Lubin, the CEO of Rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe saw pretty quickly that there was overwhelming need,\u201d he added. \u201cCollege students, by nature of typically being part-time employees and being campus-dependent for their jobs, are particularly economically vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the middle of March, Rise conducted a survey<\/a> that gathered responses from 500 students from more than 120 colleges nationwide and found that 52 percent of them had been laid off or had their hours significantly cut back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since that was a few weeks ago, Lubin imagines the numbers would be even higher today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, Rise is working in collaboration with the nonprofit Believe in Students<\/a> (BIS) and Edquity<\/a>. Together, they\u2019ve created a student relief fund and an online portal<\/a> through which students can seek guidance from experts on how they can access aid like unemployment insurance, food stamps or money through their own college or university\u2019s emergency relief funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey write in and say what they need help with, and we have this big committee of volunteers who are sitting there every day and taking those requests and helping people figure out what they should do to get assistance,\u201d explained Sara Goldrick-Rab<\/a>, the founder of BIS, a professor of higher education policy & sociology at Temple University and founding director of the Hope Center for College, Community and Justice in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been less than a month since the nonprofits released their online help portal, and nearly 900 students have already applied for guidance, Lubin said. Each day, about 60 more are applying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The group\u2019s student relief fund, which Godrick-Rab said has raised about $105,000 to this point, was primarily set up to supplement those run by colleges, universities and government systems so that students who need money immediately can get it in a timely manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The relief funds administered by colleges, universities and government systems have the capacity to serve a much greater number of students, but those who apply for those grants often have to fill out extensive applications, and it can take weeks before they receive any money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the federal government is working to disburse $7 billion to colleges and universities so that it can be used for emergency grants to college students. Colleges and universities have yet to receive that money, however, and it\u2019s uncertain when they will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The money from the nonprofits\u2019 student relief fund is being given out through two pre-existing programs. Some of those in the Dallas area are receiving their money through the Edquity App, but the bulk of the money is being delivered through BIS\u2019 FAST Fund program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The FAST Fund was created in 2016 and this is how it works. Professors at colleges and universities across the country sign up to administer a FAST Fund program at their respective schools. Money from the fund is then disbursed to the professors and they, just like a friend, can give the money out to students who need it. While many professors require students to submit at least some form of application, the point of the program is to remove the red tape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As the campus closures have resulted in an uptick of students requesting aid, more and more professors have started a FAST Fund at their institutions. And that\u2019s something Goldrick-Rab said she\u2019s really proud of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Robin DeRosa<\/a>, who teaches interdisciplinary studies at Plymouth State University, is one of those professors. She started a FAST Fund just a few weeks ago so she could provide aid to Plymouth State students affected by COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen our school closed for remote learning, and the rest of the state started closing things down as well, I realized the biggest challenge my students were facing was not transitioning to online learning, it was actually surviving the upheaval in their lives,\u201d DeRosa explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLots of my students just immediately overnight lost their jobs, and a huge number of them are living paycheck to paycheck,\u201d she added. \u201cI started hearing stories from students about how desperate they were. And I realized that any funding they were going to get from the government or even support from the school was going to take too long to get to them. And they were going to have big problems before then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeRosa received about $5,000 from the FAST Fund and raised an additional $2,559. Within a day, it was all dispersed among 43 students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By dividing up the money, typically in sums between $100 and $300, DeRosa said they were able to serve 100 percent of the students that applied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe response was absolutely immediate,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat that also allowed was for the university to then get its more official larger scale fund up and running. But, it\u2019s really hard to leverage big institutional drives like that so quickly. So, we were able to meet that little gap in between getting the university fund off the ground and the pandemic hitting hard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n To receive a grant, students were required to submit a brief application describing their situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy colleague and I who read them together, you know you couldn\u2019t help but be in tears to hear what they were dealing with,\u201d said DeRosa. \u201cIt was crazy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kristin Bivens<\/a>, an associate professor of English at Harold Washington College in Chicago, also recently started a FAST Fund at her institution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bivens said she had an urge to help when she saw the struggles students were going through. But, quarantined in her home, she didn\u2019t know exactly how she could. Having kept up with Goldrick-Rab and the work she does highlighting the financial struggles many college students go through, however, Bivens decided to reach out and apply to administer a FAST Fund at Harold Washington. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are government grants that college students in Chicago can apply to, but they are also paperwork-heavy and it can take weeks before students receive their money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Bivens said she was motivated \u201cto get money to students without it being encumbered by all of the layers of bureaucracy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n While a handful of the FAST Fund grants have gone towards helping Harold Washington students pay their rent, Bivens said the majority of grants are going towards students to help them pay their internet bills so that they can continue their online education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Rosen, a now retired professor of economics at the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), has been running a FAST Fund for nearly five years. He too said he\u2019s seen an uptick in grant requests amid the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly coming from students who need access to computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In years past, Rosen explained, he and his colleagues, who help run the FAST Fund, typically wouldn\u2019t allot grants to students who asked for money towards computers because there\u2019s only so much to divvy out and students could utilize computer labs. But, with those labs closed, students no longer have that option. So, Rosen has been buying computers online and having them shipped directly to students’ houses or apartments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout his time running the MATC FAST Fund, however, the bulk of money raised has typically gone towards helping students pay their rent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe biggest demand for us every year has been around housing,\u201d said Rosen. \u201cIt is a really poor community. And most of our students come from Milwaukee County where rents are very high, and students are struggling with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having run a FAST Fund for so long, Rosen knows just how impactful it can be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He told the story of once giving a grant to a student who, despite working, had been forced into homelessness due to domestic abuse. A colleague of Rosen\u2019s, who was her professor at the time, noticed her grades slipping, which was peculiar because she had typically been a stellar student. After inquiring about why her test scores dropped, the professor understood the situation. And soon after, the FAST Fund paid for the deposit on her new apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHer grades went right back up,\u201d said Rosen. \u201cShe graduated as an RN in January of the following year, and passed her RN state boards that January. So, within about a seven-month period, she went from homeless to earning $30 an hour as a nurse. We don\u2019t know what would\u2019ve happened to her if we didn\u2019t pay the security deposit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosen typically has a bit more money to allocate through his fund than most, as he goes above and beyond by running galas and parties to fundraise. The first year he ran the fund, he was able to help 27 students, but that number has since increased. In 2018, grants were awarded to 109 MATC students. Last year, the fund helped 157 students. This year, although it\u2019s just early April, the fund has already granted money to more than 200 students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a student who needs help amid the COVID-19 pandemic, seek advice here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-10-at-1.57.23-PM-1-753x1024.png\")
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