by Eunice Sung

Since March 25, the University of Maryland community has donated over $208,000 to help a flood of struggling students who applied to receive help from the Student Crisis Fund amid the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the coordinator for the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, Sarah Williamson.

The UMD Student Crisis Fund was first established in 2001 to keep students on the path to academic success during personal and unexpected crises, according to their website.

In the past month, the fund has mostly been used to help students financially impacted due to the virus outbreak. Some students lost their jobs and have been struggling to cover rent or groceries, while others experienced a trickle-down effect after their parents became unemployed, according to Williamson. 

Between March of 2019 and March 11, 2020, the Division of Student Affairs approved just 186 applications for awards totaling $82,000. But as of April 10, 2020, the division has approved 1,084 applications related to COVID-19 totaling awards of just over $505,000 since March 11, according to Williamson.

Simran Bhattacharyya, a junior psychology major, was one of many who applied after being forced out of her job at the University’s Recreation and Wellness Center due to the closure of campus. Bhattacharyya said she usually used that income to pay for groceries and everyday items and to save up for future expenses such as rent.

“The student crisis fund actually helped me to save more money that way,” she said. “I think it’s a very useful resource, especially for people who are struggling right now.”

According to Williamson, the money distributed by the crisis fund is funded completely by private donations from the community. Current students, alumni, faculty, staff and even community members who have no affiliation with the university have pitched in to help, according to Williamson.

“We’ve been really thankful and [grateful] for our donors,” Williamson said. “It’s really our donors that have been so wonderful to allow us to continue to help students.”

Dylan Solden, a graduate student studying public policy and the president of the pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, is one of those donors who was able to positively impact UMD students.

Throughout the year, his fraternity raises money through restaurant fundraisers or bake sales to ultimately give to a charity of the members’ choice in the summer. After some discussion with the community service chair and the executive board about the pandemic, the fraternity decided to take another vote with new charity options — the crisis fund being one of them.

“This situation has put people [who] are already in difficult situations, in even more impossible situations,” Solden said. “We just thought giving back directly to University of Maryland students and our peers … was the thing we wanted to do.”

As of April 8, the division had 491 pending applications and they continue to come in daily, according to Williamson.

Staff members review each application on its own in order to consider every single factor that a student presents to them. Every student then receives individualized responses and aid depending on their personal situations, according to Williamson.

Williamson said contributions and assistance from donors are crucial for the division to continue to help students in times of need. 

“It’s really a great glimmer of hope and good news in a time that can feel really sad,” Williamson said.