A fund to help students in need at the University of Maryland needs help itself.
There’s been a run on the Student Crisis Fund at the University of Maryland College Park campus since the COVID-19 outbreak forced students to leave campus and shift to distance learning.
More than $370,000 has been distributed to over 800 students to help them meet basic needs in the past two weeks, according to the university.
The university has received more than 900 applications for assistance to pay for food, transportation or housing.
The massive increase in requests ― there are typically two to three each week ― depleted the account and others earlier this week, prompting a fundraising effort by university officials.
A waiting list for assistance started to form earlier this week, according to an appeal from Vice President of University Relations Jackie Lewis.
The university is also soliciting donations for the campus food pantry and a fund intended to help students at risk from withdrawing from the university entirely.
Donations to the funds can be made online.
Danielle E. Gaines
Contributor
Danielle Gaines worked for Maryland Matters from September 2018 to January 2024. She covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position, ultimately serving as editor-in-chief for nearly three years. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.
Related Articles
The state schools superintendent, who has served in that post since Oct. 23, will remove interim from her title on July 1.
Anticipated Blueprint revenue in the upcoming fiscal year budget of more than $131 million includes $86 million in cigarette taxes.
President Biden during his campaign in 2020 promised to nix the Trump administration’s Title IX regulations.
Creative Commons Attribution