COVID-19 Student Relief Fund

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The University of New Brunswick has announced it’s own relief funding for students who have demonstrated financial need.

Any UNB student registered for the Winter 2020 semester is eligible to apply for the new UNB COVID-19 Student Relief Fund. The fund will provide up to $1000 per student to assist with travel, rent, utilities, and groceries.

The application process requires completing a budget to show your income and expenses, as well as scheduling an appointment with a Financial Aid Counsellor via email. Financial Aid staff will contact students who have applied with as “little delay as possible.”

“If you are a UNB student with urgent and immediate financial needs related to the COVID-19 crisis, you may be eligible for relief through the new UNB COVID-19 Student Relief Fund.” UNB Saint John said in a Facebook post.

Many post-secondary students are concerned with summer employment because of business closures. Students who live independently or have dependants may struggle to make ends meet over the summer without employment. This fund, provided as a bursary, will help those students while they seek solutions.

Government providing income supplementation

The federal government recently announced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), a taxable benefit that would provide $2,000 every month to Canadians for up to 4 months. This benefit is similar to the Emergency Care Benefit and Emergency Support benefit that was previously announced.

Wayne Long, MP for Saint John-Rothesay, expects “the application for this benefit to become available online on April 6, and applications should be processed, and benefits paid within ten days.”

It is unclear whether students will be eligible for this government benefit. However, Long said students “should be eligible, as long as they earned at least $5,000 in income last summer.”

When asked about summer employment opportunities, Long said he would fight to support students in need. “If this pandemic begins to impact students’ ability to find summer employment, I will work to ensure that our government makes additional support available to them.”

Emily is in her fourth year of Political Science. She loves studying and academics which follows into her research work. She's a stern black coffee drinker and is a proud Acadienne. When she's not working or doing school work, you can find Emily listening to 70s music on vinyl and watching Parks and Recreation. If you ask her about parliamentary institutions, she won't stop talking.