Supporting Scholarships This Holiday Season
During this giving season, the College of Humanities is focusing on raising awareness and funds for two critical but often under-recognized scholarships: the Student Emergency Fund and the Graduate Student Support Fund.
Student Emergency Funds
This fund provides a critical safety net for students. For many students, an unforeseen financial hardship can derail their educational path, jeopardizing their ability to continue attending classes and complete their degrees. The College of Humanities Student Emergency Fund steps into this gap, providing a rapid-response financial lifeline to students struggling to cope with unexpected medical bills, loss of jobs or income, loss of transportation, and more.
Emergency Fund Recipient Story
A first-generation college student in her first year of study came to the college in tears mid-way through spring semester because she needed to transfer and had lost her scholarship due to her first semester grades. We helped support her with tuition through the end of the spring semester through the Emergency Fund. Now, we meet with her regularly and helped her file an appeal to re-gain the scholarship for this academic year. She has joined three clubs now at the U that we connected her with, has been awarded additional scholarships, and is thriving. She is looking at learning abroad and research opportunities for next year and is going to be in club leadership now. She has convinced two friends to transfer to the U from their universities. She comes into my office monthly to say thank you. She had lots of family support, but the family was at a loss of how to help her with the issues at the university.
- Karen Marsh Schaeffer
Acting Dean Wanda Pillow, herself a first-generation college student, reflects, “I wish that the Emergency Fund had been around when I was an undergraduate. Access to emergency scholarship aid and the kind of wraparound assistance that the College of Humanities gives to our students can be the pivot point for a student’s entire life. The generous donors supporting this fund are truly making a difference for students.”
The scholarship has helped students cover things as basic as food, housing, and eyeglasses, up to assistance with tuition after being laid off a job. Karen Marsh Schaeffer, Director of Student Success at the College of Humanities and the administrator of the Emergency Fund, says, “As you know, undergraduate and graduate students are struggling with the rising costs of food and housing. For many students at the University of Utah, the cost of simply living is more than they can afford and then to try and attend school puts them in a perpetual state of distress. As little as $500 can be the difference between continuing in school or dropping out."
Over the past two years, the Emergency Fund has distributed $88,168, assisting 44 graduate students at an average of $829 per student and 46 undergraduate students at an average of $1,067 per student.
An anonymous recipient of the Student Emergency Fund scholarship says, “I cannot express my gratitude enough to you and the College of Humanities. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Thank you so much for helping me! I was about to drop out two nights ago, but this has proved to me not to give up. I will continue to fight and pursue my degree.”
Gifts to the Student Emergency Fund provide not only real financial support to students in dire need, but also a much-needed vote of confidence during times of struggle. In the College of Humanities, students apply for funding through the office of Student Success, which allows staff to connect students with other valuable resources both on and off campus. “When students apply, the Student Success team addresses their needs and often we can find necessities or resources at the University or elsewhere to solve the needs,” says Marsh Schaeffer. “We have helped students connect with free legal help, car mechanics, medical professionals, tutoring, victim support, job opportunities, and more. Across campus now we have referrals coming to us to help with student needs and we can connect students to resources all over.”
Donate to the Student Emergency Fund today!
Graduate Student Support Fund
Graduate students in a department town hall meeting. A robust graduate education program is one of the hallmarks of a top-tier university, and the University of Utah is no exception. The College of Humanities graduate students hail from states across the U.S. and many countries, studying a dizzying array of topics from multiple perspectives, from the intersection of empathy, AI, and technical editing to oral histories to teaching pragmatics to EFL learners. Many graduate students also work as teaching or research assistants, helping to educate undergraduate students and conduct research alongside faculty in their departments.
“Graduate students are in many ways the lifeblood of the academic tradition,” says Acting Dean Pillow. “Their innovations and contributions to the College’s scholarly conversations as well as their professional achievements raise the profile of the university. Supporting graduate students through to the completion of their degrees is also tremendously important to ensuring that our society is prepared with the next generation of researchers and teachers.”
Graduate students are often in a uniquely precarious financial situation. Many graduate students rely on stipends as compensation for their teaching or research assistantship labor, which can be as little as $25,000 a year, making it incredibly challenging to live in Salt Lake County. A graduate student in the Department of English remarks, “As a graduate student, facing chronic health challenges has made it difficult to prioritize my schoolwork and teaching. Fortunately, I've been able to lean on the [scholarship]…to focus more wholeheartedly on my responsibilities as a student and instructor.”
The Graduate Student Support Fund provides additional funds that support graduate students with more livable wages and make it possible for Chairs and Directors to compete with other top institutions to recruit highly-sought graduate talent to the University of Utah. “The cost of living in Salt Lake is just so high, it’s really difficult for students to survive if they don’t have funding. Without funding, they have to get part time jobs, which cuts into the time that needs to be spent working on the research for their PhD and MA programs,” says Bryce Garner, Director of Administration for International and Area Studies. “That’s why it’s so important, so that students have the funding in order to focus on the important task that they’re actually here for.”
Contributions to this scholarship make a tremendous difference, not just for the individual students whose educations are made possible by the fund, but also to the future of research, teaching, community engagement, and societal impact that our graduate students will have throughout their careers.
Donate to the Graduate Student Support Fund today!