UNC Providing Emergency Aid, Internet Supplements to Students Amid Remote Semester

As many UNC students began the semester remotely, and even more transitioned to the method halfway through August, the university has been working to help. Students have received more than $12 million in special aid from UNC since the summer and the need continues into the fall.

According to Director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid Rachelle Feldmen, normally 45 percent of undergraduate students receive some form of need-based financial aid from the university. She said the amount of emergency aid requests caused from the pandemic has led that number to jump.

Since normal financial aid is dependent on tax information from two years before, many students have been seeking alternative ways to ease the various burdens caused by COVID-19.

“For most of these people,” says Feldman, “their 2018 taxes didn’t reflect the pandemic. But we have seen an increase, just in undergraduate need-based aid, of about $15 million over the prior year, which is pretty significant.”

One method aiming to help those needs was established during the spring semester when the coronavirus pandemic began. The Carolina Student Impact Fund takes private donations to help cover various expenses related to the disruption of campus operations.

Feldman says a variety of sources made more than $1 million in contributions since the spring.

“It’s coming from alumni, it’s coming from staff, it’s coming from concerned donors in the community,” Feldman says. “We’ve gotten a little bit of money from student organizations, which is very generous. It’s really members of the public who care about students, their education and taking care of them when something bad happens.”

Another new initiative helping students is the university’s internet supplement aid. Some students came for in-person instruction this fall due to unreliable internet resources at their permanent addresses. With many now returning home, UNC is giving those students $200 to help pay for a solution. The university had budgeted for 2,500 supplements at the start of the semester but were nearly running out until last week. Feldman says her office got funding approved to provide 1,200 more.

“The one thing we didn’t want was for students to be disadvantaged because of the strength of their internet connection or lack of broadband,” says Feldman. “It was really important to us to come up with something we could do to help level the playing field there for students who were studying from home or their apartment.”

Beyond the university’s initiatives to help students, other grassroots programs have started to help in various ways. Facebook groups created to help UNC students pair with Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents have provided financial, emotional and other kinds of support since the move to remote instruction.

Feldman describes these efforts as wonderful and encouraging to see.

“We try to keep our sense of community, we try to take care of students,” she says of the university. “We certainly recognize the concerns and frustration for students that pivoting presents. I think it’s really great to see the whole Carolina community, Chapel Hill and Carrboro community coming together to be supportive.”

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UNC Providing Emergency Aid, Internet Supplements to Students Amid Remote Semester

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