Emergency Funding: COVID-19, Income Continuation, and the Future!

UW–Madison was one of the first institutions in the nation to begin disbursing emergency aid to students specific to the COVID-19 pandemic.  When the move to alternative course delivery was originally announced, OSFA created an online application where students could request emergency financial assistance.  This move right around spring break required many students to change their plans and quickly; funds were provided to assist with moving costs, course materials, technology, health care, childcare, food and housing costs. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed on March 27^th and made available a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) to UW–Madison, half of which ($9,891,501) had to be used to deliver emergency financial aid grants directly to students.  This funding was provided to over 6,000 students who applied through the Emergency Assistance form and met the qualifications outlined by the Department of Education for emergency expenses related to the disruption of their spring term.  While not all UW–Madison students were eligible to receive emergency funding specifically through the CARES Act, all students were able to apply for and receive emergency assistance with the support of private funds from generous benefactors.  Donations are always accepted – www.supportuw.org/giveto/emergencysupport In addition, we also utilized CARES funding to support over 2,700 student employees who were unable to work during the month of April. In total, over $1.6 million was utilized to support these students by offering income replacement grants.  This was in addition to the campus effort to provide Income Continuation to cover the last 2 weeks of March as well as OSFA’s commitment to provide income continuation to all Federal Work-Study (FWS) students up to their total FWS award through May 23rd. These efforts also led the charge as it related to supporting student employees on campuses across the country and became a leading example for others to follow. Although our CARES funding has now been exhausted, UW–Madison remains firm in their commitment to the emerging needs of students.  In response, we have a new emergency funding resources page, a new emergency funding request form, and we have charged a workgroup of campus partners to continue the conversation on centralized emergency funding for students.  We’ll continue to update the division as new information from this group comes to light.