Stop Financial Grief, Expand Emergency Relief - UT Austin
The Issue
The University of Texas at Austin NEEDS to take action immediately to help those most in need and make sure that no UT student is left behind. The institution can start by:
1.) Raising awareness for people who need access to the Student Emergency Fund.
2.) Lowering the barriers for access. The Student Emergency Services office requires personal documentation such as bank statements, medical records, and a notice of termination, which makes applying for aid inaccessible for many students.
3.) Allowing students who access it once to be able to access it for a second time if needed.
Wage inequality is a huge problem that has plagued the University of Texas at Austin students with the rise in living expenses in the city of Austin. Since 2010 alone, rent prices have almost doubled, more than any other major city in the nation. Many students from low socioeconomic backgrounds have had to work multiple jobs on top of being full-time students in order to keep a roof over their heads. In addition to loans and trying to secure scholarships, the effort of working a job places undue stress on the shoulders of many lower-income students and puts them in financially precarious positions if they have to pay off an unexpected fee. The University of Texas at Austin manages a Student Emergency Fund to support students, however, it has many problems that inconvenience students and make it unnecessarily hard to get the funds in an already stressful situation. The three main problems that can be seen are: not all students are readily made aware of these resources, the barriers to get money from UT are too high, and it only allows students to draw from the fund ONCE during their time at UT.
Since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting large amounts of unemployment (especially since UT laid off most of its student workers) and unexpected medical bills, many more students than usual are in DIRE need of emergency cash to fill gaps. It is UT’s responsibility to make sure that its students are in secure enough situations to receive the education that they are oftentimes going into debt for.
The Issue
The University of Texas at Austin NEEDS to take action immediately to help those most in need and make sure that no UT student is left behind. The institution can start by:
1.) Raising awareness for people who need access to the Student Emergency Fund.
2.) Lowering the barriers for access. The Student Emergency Services office requires personal documentation such as bank statements, medical records, and a notice of termination, which makes applying for aid inaccessible for many students.
3.) Allowing students who access it once to be able to access it for a second time if needed.
Wage inequality is a huge problem that has plagued the University of Texas at Austin students with the rise in living expenses in the city of Austin. Since 2010 alone, rent prices have almost doubled, more than any other major city in the nation. Many students from low socioeconomic backgrounds have had to work multiple jobs on top of being full-time students in order to keep a roof over their heads. In addition to loans and trying to secure scholarships, the effort of working a job places undue stress on the shoulders of many lower-income students and puts them in financially precarious positions if they have to pay off an unexpected fee. The University of Texas at Austin manages a Student Emergency Fund to support students, however, it has many problems that inconvenience students and make it unnecessarily hard to get the funds in an already stressful situation. The three main problems that can be seen are: not all students are readily made aware of these resources, the barriers to get money from UT are too high, and it only allows students to draw from the fund ONCE during their time at UT.
Since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting large amounts of unemployment (especially since UT laid off most of its student workers) and unexpected medical bills, many more students than usual are in DIRE need of emergency cash to fill gaps. It is UT’s responsibility to make sure that its students are in secure enough situations to receive the education that they are oftentimes going into debt for.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on November 17, 2020