York Extends Financial Aid to Help Families Affected by Gov’t Shutdown

Academic Core Building. Photo credit: Greis Torres

By Rachel Dalloo

York College is offering to support any student and families in need who were deeply affected by the federal government shutdown. The college emailed a campus-wide notice on Jan. 4 to students for the chance to apply for the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation Student Emergency Fund.

The Petrie Emergency Fund is available for more than 1.5 million students who are currently attending public schools located in New York City. The fund is in place to promote good education as well as providing “quick response” grants to students with a good academic background, who are experiencing short-term financial problems. Any students facing a current emergency may apply for the grant.

York College has been processing the Petrie fund for students for the past ten years. About 800 students have received grants from the this fund, according to Jonathan Quash, the principal investigator for the Fund for the Office of Student Development.

The maximum award amount a student can receive is $2,000. Once the award is sent out to students who are in serious need for it, the fund does not need to be repaid. However, students can only apply for the grant once in their entire college career.

Applications are available on the York website or through the Office of Student development. Applications should be sent to either room AC-2F01 or room AC-3M02. An application is not a guarantee that the grant will be awarded.

Applicants are advised to wait up to 72 hours for verification from Quash after submitting their application. Students receive the funding through checks.

The Petrie Fund supports living expenses only. It does not cover for college debts, fees, and legal representation.

The Federal Government shut down for 35 days from Dec. 2018 to Jan. 2019, and affected over 800,000 workers across the country. The government was temporarily funded to re-open through Feb. 15 in order to give lawmakers a chance to reach an agreement on the proposed border safety budget.

On Feb. 15 President Donald Trump signed a budget bill that averted another shutdown, but sparked a major controversy by declaring a national emergency because the bill did not include the funds he demanded to construct a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.