Thurgood Marshall College Fund: HBCU Emergency Fund

About

With the continued health emergency, TMCF has reached out to its member-schools to identify several areas of unforeseen costs. TMCF member-schools, America’s 47 publicly supported Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs) primarily serve low-income students (over 72% of whom are Pell Grant eligible) and first generation to attend college (52%). These students do not have family resources to weather crises like COVID-19.

TMCF has identified four buckets of needs related to how HBCUs and their
students are impacted by COVID-19:

• Emergency Funding for Students: This large bucket includes lost income due to job loss which can lead to an inability to pay for rent or food, food insecurity for those whose meal plans have been canceled but are remaining in their apartments, broken leases (without force majeure) for students returning home who lived off-campus, storage, and other unforeseen costs.

• Technology for students to participate in online coursework: Students returning home often do not have access to reliable internet, laptops, computers, or hot spots on their mobile devices.

• Mental health support: One of the greatest needs that TMCF memberschools have identified is support for enhanced mental health services for their students. Students are experiencing an upheaval in their lives, being asked to quickly vacate their dorm rooms, losing their jobs, or being forced back into a housing or food insecure situation at home.

About the Host

TMCF provides unparalleled access to a funnel of opportunities for students to journey to college, through college and into a career. Despite the universal challenges that face today’s college bound student, TMCF transforms the lives of thousands of students each year.