After hearing from struggling students, the UNB-SRC has created a relief fund for UNB Saint John and Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick students.
SRC pandemic relief fund
On January 27, the SRC announced a Pandemic Relief Fund for students who have experienced great expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the SRC, they approved the allocation of $15,000 to create the relief fund, but the reimbursement will only cover a portion of the students’ expenses.
The SRC Pandemic Relief Fund Committee, which is composed of the SRC executive team and representatives from the council, reserves the right to refuse any application.
Eligibility
Students that want to apply for the relief fund must be undergraduate students at UNB Saint John or a current student at Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, a member of the UNB-SRC student union (if a student is a member there will be a SRC fee on the student’s UNB account or a local student union fee charged on the DMNB account), must have incurred an expense due to the pandemic that they require financial assistance for.
Examples of applicable situations are expenses for:
- Transportation from an airport other than the Saint John Airport due to airport closure
- Hotel stay, or an equivalent, for isolation
- Transportation to receive a COVID-19 testing while isolating
- Meal or grocery delivery services
- Other costs caused by the pandemic or self-isolation that the relief fund committee considers appropriate.
How to apply
To request reimbursement, interested students must fill out the fund application form.
Students that have their request approved will be notified by email and will be asked to provide supporting documentation before receiving the relief funding.
According to the President of the SRC, Patrick Hickey, students will not need to wait too long for a response.
“The committee will meet to make decisions every two weeks or so”, he says. “So, it should be relatively fast for applications to be approved and funds distributed to students”.
Time limit to apply
The SRC will distribute the funds as they receive applications, which means it may not be available all semester.
“Students can apply anytime, but we encourage students to apply as soon as they can because we start distributing funds as we receive applications, so we may run out some point in the semester”.
The SRC Pandemic Relief Fund will officially close at the end of the winter semester.
Any questions about the pandemic fund can be emailed to president@unbsrc.ca.
