74% of college students have jobs, but 40% still drop out—often for expenses under $1,000.
These realities are frequently left out of the headlines and perceptions of today’s college students. But the truth is, 3 million students annually leave college due to unmet financial needs.
A small investment in emergency aid often prevents a much greater crisis, such as increased loan defaults or the economic loss of an unfinished degree.
We need your help more than ever! Funding an emergency aid scholarship can change a student's life forever.
Why create an emergency aid scholarship?
Strengthen your local community
Directly contribute to the success of students in your own community, ensuring that individuals can overcome short-term financial barriers and continue their education.
Address the full spectrum of student needs
Students face a variety of challenges during their academic journey, and financial emergencies are a reality many students face at some point. By funding emergency aid, you're addressing the full spectrum of student needs, not just those related to tuition. Emergency aid can support students in dealing with unexpected costs, helping them to continue their education uninterrupted.
Provide a flexible and timely way to meet students’ immediate needs
Emergencies can happen at any time, and they often require immediate solutions. Emergency aid funds provide a flexible and timely way to meet students’ needs, allowing them to overcome short-term crises that might otherwise jeopardize their academic journey. These funds can be used for a wide range of urgent needs, from rent and utilities to medical bills or transportation costs.
Make a direct, tangible impact
Investing in emergency aid is a direct and tangible way to impact students’ lives right now. Donors can see the immediate effect of their investment as students continue their education and move forward with their goals.
Students need your help now more than ever.
For Maria, Will, Bella and Alana, their college and career dreams almost came to an end due to sudden financial crises. But with emergency scholarship funding provided quickly through Scholarship America and their schools, all four were able to persist toward their degree.
Creating an emergency scholarship fund means giving directly to life-changing interventions, like covering a $300 license fee that allows a student to secure employment or helping a student avoid eviction with a $500 grant.
Studies report that 82% of emergency aid recipients say the funding directly improved their chances of graduating—showcasing measurable, tangible outcomes for every dollar contributed.
"Emergency funding [meant] I could go grocery shopping. My world got better in that moment."
—Will MacKay, Nicolet College