Student Emergency Endowment Fund
This giving page is for the long-term endowment of the Student Emergency Fund. Funds raised for the endowment will not immediately be used, but will instead ensure the fund will live in perpetuity. If you would like to support the Student Emergency Current Use Fund, please search Student Emergency Fund.
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a devastating toll on many of our students and they need your help.
Just as you might imagine, many of our Salisbury University students, particularly low-income and first-generation students, have suffered tremendous losses because of the pandemic. Such losses are on top of their regular financial difficulties. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had staggering instances of our fellow Sea Gull students and/or their parents losing one or more of their jobs (many SU students or their parents have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet or to have a fairly decent quality of life), facing eviction or actually getting evicted from their apartments or homes, and struggling to keep up with paying for both COVID-related medical bills and food. Some of our students may not be able to continue their SU studies because they need to find work to pay for their mounting bills.
The stories shared are real stories, not anecdotal. In the Student Affairs Division, we care deeply about our students, hence our “SU Cares” mantra. Our Student Affairs case manager is overwhelmed with students needing financial assistance with rent, food, health care, childcare, laptop loaners, books, technology “hot spots,” transportation and other services. We also need help to make sure students can stay at SU and fulfill their dreams of graduating from one of America’s finest institutions! An illustrative example of what they are dealing with is captured in one of our student’s own unedited words:
“During the current pandemic and all the uncertainty that comes with it, the Student Emergency Fund has remedied a bit of the stress that comes with beginning a new semester in such volatile times. This fund has helped me recover from a harsh financial period caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and has greatly relieved a lot of the pressure that comes with beginning a new semester by reducing the amount of financial stresses I am under. This allows me to focus more on my studies and the start of the school year. I am grateful for the grants provided through the fund because it provides opportunities to succeed to those who need it most.” – “A.”
“A.” was subject to eviction, but, thanks to you, we were able to help. But there are so many more students whom we cannot help because the Student Emergency Fund is simply limited, which is why we need your help.
Wallace Southerland, Associate VP of Student Affairs, has pledged $5,000 to establish the Student Affairs Student Emergency Endowment Fund to provide critical resources for the students of today and tomorrow. Join him in making a generous gift to the Student Emergency Endowment Fund so that we can wrap our Sea Gull wings-of-support around our students in need and propel them to academic and personal excellence.