The Student Emergency Fund (SEF) is a grant provided by the Student Philanthropy Council (SPC) that provides essential funding to students in need.

Sophie Watkins, a senior from Jonesboro and director of the Student Emergency Fund, said the SEF is a grant of up to $500 to assist students with necessities outside of tuition. She said all undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply, given that they have exhausted all other financial aid resources, including scholarships, loans and other grants.

“It is essentially a last resort for students who are in an emergency situation that may threaten their enrollment on campus,” Watkins said. 

Students can only receive SEF funding once. 

The director said accepted students receive a check to spend on whatever essentials they need. The SEF does not cover tuition, student loans or textbooks. 

Watkins said SEF aid is only available for students with a temporary financial need. She said students with greater financial needs are referred to the Financial Aid and Scholarships office because they require more assistance than the SEF can provide.

All SEF recipients each year will be contacted in the spring to attend a one hour financial literacy course. Watkins said the course will include a speaker to discuss financial and resource management. 

Watkins said an application is available on the Arkansas State University website and through Banner Self Service. The application includes questions concerning FAFSA completion and previous recipient status. 

According to the application description, applications received by Friday 5 p.m. are reviewed the following Monday. Watkins said Financial Aid and Scholarships evaluates applications first, then the Student Philanthropy Council reviews the remaining approved applications. 

Watkins said the council assigns a score to each application and it must receive a score of 21 or above to qualify for aid. 

The director said the time between approving an application and a student receiving money is usually short. She said that once approved, the recipient will receive a check in the mail.

Watkins said since the fund was created in 2016, the SEF has awarded 350 students $123,000.

Nevin Burnside, a first-year student from Judsonia, Arkansas, said he had never heard of the student emergency fund, but it sounded like a useful resource for students.

“I don’t think I’ll ever need to use it,” Burnside said. “But if there was a situation that arose where I have no help from anyone else and I simply can’t afford necessities, then I’d look into it.”

Kinley Burton, a second-year student and director of SEF fundraising, said the SEF is funded through fundraisers and donations.

“Our funds come from fundraising and also alumni,” Burton said. “So alumni are able to donate to help fund.”

Watkins said advisers at the Cooper Alumni Center connect with alumni to help raise funds for the SEF and other grants. She said the main fundraising event that helps the SEF is Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is a global fundraising event held annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year Giving Tuesday will be held Nov. 28.

Burton said students can also help the student emergency fund by becoming ambassadors during select fundraising events. Watkins said ambassadors assist in fundraising and marketing without becoming committed members of the philanthropy council. She said ambassadors are currently being recruited and the SEF is looking to recruit 50–100 this year.

More information and an application for the SEF can be found at https://www.astate.edu/a/advancement/spc/.

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