Spreading with COVID-19 is its financial ramification which can impede college students and their families greatly. The Madison College Foundation is urging students to consider the emergency support fund if they are in need of assistance.

“These are difficult times and it is urgent to just be kind to one another in general and to do our part, but if there is any way that we can support our students financially as well, we want to do that,” said the CEO of Madison College Foundation, Tammy Thayer.

The emergency support fund is open to any student enrolled in six or more credits in a degree-seeking program who is in good standing at the college.

“It can help students that are facing unforeseen medical expenses, food insecurity, or can’t pay their rent or utility bills because they’ve lost their job, things like that,” Thayer said. “The fund will provide a grant to help cover these expenses. After the student submits an application, it is sent off to us at the foundation and we pay the third party, like the landlord, the utility company, whatever the case may be. We’ve established a partnership with Pick ‘n Save, which is close to the college, and we have food cards there so students can go there and pick them up and shop.”

To apply, students can go to madisoncollege.edu/financial-challenges and listed there are the general eligibility requirements, as well as expenses that are and are not qualifying. Following the universal information are particulars of the fund, in regards to COVID-19. This page also houses the application for students to complete which asks identification questions and then allows the applicant to explain their unique situation and the nature of their request in two short answer sections. Lastly, it is crucial that the student submits proper documentation of the expense(s) and who it is to be paid to.

“That information is submitted and it goes to our team who is monitoring the submissions and from there, a team behind the scenes reviews the student information by looking them up in the system to ensure all eligibility requirements have been met,” said Director of Student Financial Support Services Keyimani Alford. “From there, we determine which funding they are eligible for and review documentation or collect it and determine eligibility for the student based off of what they request and our available funding. Then we begin communicating with the foundation and the student to begin the payment process.”

This quick support from Madison College, due to the expeditious application and response, is a necessity for students as many have seen sharp cuts in income with rather unwavering costs.

“This fund is extremely important because it is going to have an immediate impact on the students and their families’ lives,” Thayer said. “If students can’t eat or are struggling because they can’t pay a particular bill, we don’t want them to be forced to drop out of school because of these obstacles; we want to alleviate that for them. Ultimately we want students to persist and remain in school.”

The emergency support fund is not a new endeavor from Madison College as the foundation has been raising funds for around four years to support students during turbulent financial times to allow them to focus on their academics. The existing program took an “all hands on deck” approach to regroup and expand their resources to accommodate a growing need once the financially stressing situation found its way to Dane county.

“When it came to COVID-19 we began having conversations with the foundation that said ‘hey, let’s use this funding to support more students, but also be able to provide for students that are impacted specifically from COVID’,” said Alford. “Before March 23, we were getting around maybe five to 10 responses a week; after March 23, when things started shifting for us at the college, we instantly received hundreds of applications, I think we went from four to roughly 340 in a matter of a week.”

Regardless of the uncertainty of the current situation and the burdens it can bring, Madison College is determined to remain a constant supporter for its students.

“[I hope this fund shows] that MATC cares, I think that it is important that students know being part of the wolfpack family is something we hold dear to our hearts and we’re advocates for our students,” Alford said.