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University benevolence fund helps students stay afloat when times get tough

Posted on | July 14, 2010 | 1,918 views | Comments Off

By Julia Harris

Allison Gibson knows a lot about giving. Before enrolling in the one-year master’s program in Ohio State’s College of Social Work, she served in AmeriCorps; while a student, she worked with the volunteer guardian program at the Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging to help improve that program.

But when she came into some financial hardships of her own, she became the one in need of a little help.

“I had saved up just enough money so I wouldn’t have to work during the one-year program, but when I switched to a different internship mid-way through my first quarter, my budget didn’t work anymore,” she said.

“My new placement required me to travel a lot more and the agency wasn’t able to cover those expenses.”

It’s for situations just like Gibson’s that Ohio State’s Students First, Students Now fundraising campaign was created.

Stemming from the 2008 Students First initiative spearheaded by President Gordon Gee, this fund is designed to bridge the financial gaps that could prevent otherwise qualified students from succeeding at the university.

“Ohio State is the largest and most complex university in America, and we would not be what we are today — nor can we achieve what we need to achieve — without the best and brightest students in this country,” Gee said. “We need to make certain that every student capable of achieving at this institution has the right to come. Each of us has to contribute.”

The Students First, Students Now Initiative is university wide, but each unit has been raising money for student support in its own specific ways. “Distribution to students varies in each unit, but in Social Work the student contacts the adviser and they work together to get the student aid,” said Jennifer Heller, director of development for the College of Social Work. “The amount available fluctuates because every month we receive contributions.”

So after learning about the funds available from the College of Social Work from her faculty mentor, Gibson wrote a letter explaining why she needed the help and how it would be used, and she received $500 to help her make ends meet. Without it, she might not have graduated.

Gibson isn’t the only student in her college to receive money from the Student First Initiative. There are at least five others who have agreed to share their stories in publicity materials for would-be donors, stories like the one Kelly Myers tells about escaping a domestic violence situation and relying on emergency financial aid to support her family while staying in school and looking for a job. Or the one by Danielle Hiance, whose apartment and personal belongings were destroyed in a fire, requiring her to seek financial assistance to replace her computer and essentials.

“These are some of my classmates whose stories I know and care about, and I know they’ve had struggles,” said Gibson, who is coming back to Ohio State in the fall for her doctorate — partially because of the relationships she forged here with her mentors and faculty researchers.

“When I graduated with my master’s, I gave back to the college and to that fund I benefitted from,” she said. “It’s hugely important.”

Not just a job

Jennifer Heller, director of development for the College of Social Work, has the kind of passion for her job that makes going to work both fun and meaningful. The Social Work Students First initiative, launched more than a year ago, is something about which she’s particularly enthusiastic.

“I tell our donors that their gifts to Social Work Students First — and all scholarships at the college, including our endowments — are really investments. Their investment is not only in the student who receives the financial support but also in our community and the families with whom social workers interact every day. Social workers liaison with people throughout their lives; their impact is literally everywhere.

“I’m proud of our donors, because the impact of their giving is so significant to the improvement of the human condition.”

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