WesternU Student Emergency Support Fund

The WesternU Student Emergency Support Fund provides financial assistance to currently enrolled WesternU students who are unable to meet immediate, essential expenses because of a one-time or temporary hardship related to an unexpected emergency situation that threatens to derail their academic progress. Emergency situations can include but are not limited to injury, illness, theft, death of a family member, fire, natural disaster, or pandemic. Award amounts will vary depending on the type of emergency, the individual circumstances, and the actual needs of the student; but only extraordinary circumstances will warrant an award in excess of $1,000 per student. To be considered for funding, students must either have an urgent need for financial support to cover a documented expense, or have exhausted all other avenues for additional support, including but not limited to Financial Aid assistance. Students will not be granted emergency funds and instead referred to Financial Aid if 1) they have unclaimed loan money available to withdraw, 2) they have requested help to cover expenses for which they had previously been disbursed money (e.g. rent, utilities, transportation), or 3) they have the ability to adjust their budget to access additional loan money (e.g. medical bills, broken computer, rotation travel). (Students may request to increase their budget and/or withdraw additional loan funds at https://westernu.sharepoint.com/sites/finaid/students/SitePages/Home.aspx.) Applications are accepted all year long, except for a few days around the end of July, when the system is down for annual maintenance. Should you have an emergency need when the system is offline, please contact Christy Ho at hoc@westernu.edu.