UWM Emergency Grant

The Universities of Wisconsin Emergency Grant is available to students with an unexpected financial crisis that would cause a student to not complete the term.

Eligible expenses:

• unexpected medical expenses
• car repair
• travel expenses for a family emergency
• replacement of items due to theft or fire damage

Funds cannot be used for tuition, student fees, textbooks, groceries, entertainment, legal services, fines, or forfeitures resulting from legal violations.

Who is Eligible:

This emergency grant is available to students who

• Are currently enrolled.
• Completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and be eligible for a Pell Grant.
• Have unexpected expenses related to one of the above circumstances that would cause a student to not complete the term.
• Have not received more than two grants per academic year, totaling no more than $1000.

How do I apply:

1. Prepare documentation of the expense. You will need documentation for the expenses you’d like covered (e.g., medical bill, quote for car repairs, flight information with amount, screenshot of replacement items with cost, etc.)
2. Gather Banking Information for direct deposit. Scan or photograph a voided personal check or official documentation from your bank with account and routing numbers.
3. Complete the application for the Universities of Wisconsin Emergency Grant and upload supporting documentation and banking information to the application.  Unfortunately, at this time we do not have a way for you to update your application. If it does not have supporting documentation or banking information, we will have to deny it and ask you to resubmit it.

What happens after I apply?

A staff member in the Dean of Students Office will review your materials. If everything is complete, it will be approved and you will receive funds via direct deposit.

If you are ineligible, your application will be denied. We encourage you to connect to a member of the Dean of Students Office team to see if there are other ways that we can support you.

Who do I contact if I have questions?

Please contact the Dean of Students Office at dos@uwm.edu or at 414-229-4632.

The UWM Emergency Grant is available to students with an unexpected financial crisis that would cause a student to not complete the term. Students must exhaust all other funding options before consideration.

Eligible expenses:

The UWM Emergency Grant can assist with expenses related to

• unexpected medical expenses
• car repairs
• travel for family emergencies
• to replace items stolen or damaged in a fire
• to provide temporary housing for students who leave unsafe living environments
• to cover short term expenses associated with a sudden unexpected job loss or illness.
• to provide food and personal items related to unanticipated changes to finances.

Items covered may include rent, utilities, phone, internet, food, medical bills, car repairs, daycare expenses, and potentially other expenses related to an unforeseen emergency.

Emergency grants cannot cover tuition or costs associated with cable, streaming services, citations, court ordered fines, collections, credit card debt, legal fees, and any expenses that are not due to an emergency situation.

Who is Eligible:

• Current student enrolled at least half time in a degree-seeking or certificate program.
• No disciplinary holds and good standing with the University.
• Minimum 2.0 GPA for undergraduates; 3.0 GPA for graduate students.
• Experienced an unexpected financial crisis that would cause a student to not complete the term.
• Exhausted all other financial resources.
• Students may not receive more that two emergency grants. Students who have already been awarded one emergency grant should fill out a Student Support Request/Referral Form to meet with a case manager to help find financial resources at UWM or in the community and determine eligibility for a second emergency grant.

Note: Some funding sources have additional eligibility criteria (undergrad versus graduate, in-state versus out of state, GPA, etc.). When students apply for an emergency grant, we consider all funding sources for which the student may be eligible. If we run out of funds for which the student would be eligible, we will notify the applicant. The student may be asked to reapply at a later date.

How do I apply:

1. Prepare documentation. You will need documentation for the expenses you’d like covered. Documentation might be a bill, quote for car repairs, flight information with amount, lease, pdf from a retailer with the price and item you need to purchase (e.g. textbook that was destroyed in a fire). We cannot accept credit card statements or notes/letters from family members.
   • Formatting: Documents must be formatted as pdfs or Word documents (.docx or .doc).
     • iPhone instructions to convert photos to pdfs.
     • Android instructions to convert photos to pdfs.
   • Required Information:
     • Name (if it’s a roommate’s name, please explain)
     • Amount
     • Recent date
     • Item/expense.
   • NOTE: Documentation is not needed for food and personal care item expenses unless it the only item requested. (If it is the only expense for which you request funds, tyepe this on a Word document and upload the Word document to your application). 
   • Students may supplement these documents by filling out and submitting a Monthly Budget Worksheet.
2. Ensure you have direct deposit set up with PAWS.
3. Complete the application for the Universities of Wisconsin Emergency Grant.
   1. Answer the 4 required questions for the UWM General Scholarship Application (Questions 3, 4, 13, and 14).
   2. Apply to the UWM Emergency Grant. You will be asked to:
      • Describe your financial emergency and how funding will help you. Adequate information must be provided for us to award students.
      • Upload documentation for the expenses you’d like covered (see above).
   3. Press submit. You must add documentation in order to apply for the UWM Emergency Grant. You can go back and update your application once you have submitted it.

UWM EMERGENCY GRANT APPLICATION 

What happens after I apply?

1. A staff member in the Dean of Students Office will review your materials and PAWS information to help determine eligibility. Staff may also review your financial aid status to help ensure that the awarding of a grant will not require financial aid funds to be returned.
2. Eligible applicants will be scheduled to meet with an emergency grant reviewer. You will be sent a calendar link to your UWM email.
3. When you meet with the Emergency Grant Reviewer they will ask you about your circumstances to determine eligibility and help identify potential campus and community resources to support you in their continued success at UWM.
4. If your application is not complete we will send the application back to you to add necessary items.
5. After this, an award decision will be made. In most cases, students who are awarded a grant will receive funds within one week of approval. However processing time may take up to a few weeks.

If your application is denied, we encourage you to connect to a Dean of Students Office Case Manager to see if there are other ways that we can support you. Case Managers can talk to you about budgeting, finances, and community resources. You may also contact a case manager by completing a Student Support Request.

Who do I contact if I have questions?

If you have questions about the Emergency grant, please contact the Dean of Students Office at dos@uwm.edu or at 414-229-4632.

Award Decisions

Awards are contingent on available funding.

Award decisions are determined by the Dean of Students Office and trained emergency grant reviewers. Emergency Grant Reviewers try to award funds whenever possible when students meet the eligibility criteria.

In cases where students are not eligible, the Dean of Students Office may work with students to identify other possible support resources. Additionally, we encourage students to review our Financial Resources page. Specifically, many students are eligible for Food Share. 

Additionally, DOS Case Managers can talk to you about budgeting, finances, and community resources. You may also contact a case manager by completing a Student Support Request.

The UWM Student Emergency Grant is funded by several private contributions who have contributed to the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund or other Emergency Funds at UWM. It is available to all students who meet the above criteria.

To support UWM students who face financial emergencies stay in college, please consider making a gift to the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund.

The Universities of Wisconsin Emergency Grant, our second emergency grant, is funded via the state legislature.

If you have questions about the Emergency grant, please contact the Dean of Students Office at dos@uwm.edu or at 414-229-4632.

Additionally, DOS Case Managers can talk students about budgeting, finances, and community resources. Students may contact a case manager by completing a Student Support Request.

The UWM Student Emergency Grant is funded by generous contributions from private donors to the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund.  Since March 2020, We have granted over 1 million in emergency assistance.

Awards are contingent on available funding. To support UWM students who face financial emergencies stay in college, please consider making a gift to the Chancellor’s Student Success Fund.