Last spring, we asked you to support direct student aid — and y’all came through. Together, we raised an additional $10,287 for student aid, which included a generous matching gift from Charles Brod. Thank you!
Direct student aid is available from College Possible in two buckets:
- Emergency Aid: These are relatively small grants (~$300) and are meant to help students cover one-time emergencies. Maybe they need to get their car fixed so they can get to school and back. Or a healthcare cost arises that they didn’t anticipate. Or as happened often this year, a COVID-related emergency happened.
- Persistence Aid: These are larger funds ($1,500) that can be applied to costs to help students persist or stay in school. These funds can be used to pay account balances, cover the cost of books or supplies or cover a gap due to losing expected income during the pandemic.
All of College Possible’s student aid is meant to be a last resort. Students would apply for this aid after they have done all they can with financial aid, scholarships and all other resources.
For many students, this aid is a huge relief.
Tawi just finished her first year at George Fox University and received persistence aid last year. With this aid, she paid her tuition and was able to focus on her classes.
My coach emailed us about the aid, so I immediately applied, and I literally got it in one day with the help of my coach.” Tawi said.
Tawi wanted to have additional time to devote to her studies during her first year of college. She anticipated more rigorous coursework and needed to spend more time learning the material.
Prior to applying for the aid, Tawi’s College Possible coach helped her talk through all of the costs and found alternative resources for some of them, including connecting her to George Fox’s free book program which covered all textbook costs.
If she hadn’t received the aid, her backup plan was to work more, but thinking about working additional hours to cover her tuition gap created additional stress. She worried about her GPA dropping and her performance in class declining.
The aid is a one-time grant, so next year Tawi has determined that since she won’t have the full meal plan, her costs will go down. In addition, she has applied for additional scholarships that she hopes come through to cover more of her costs. This summer she has also been working full-time to save up for next year.
This year, the aid was so helpful because first year is so much more expensive than the other years of school.”
Tawi is studying to be a nurse practitioner, a career goal that is near and dear to her and her family. She hopes to help make healthcare more accessible so that all people can receive the care they need and deserve.
“I am determined, so I will succeed.”
Thank you to all those who supported direct student aid last spring. If you want to support this type of aid for students, it’s not too late! We invite you to give today, so students like Tawi have the resources they need to focus on education.
