Enhanced Financial Supports for Students

As a result of the strike, some students may be experiencing unexpected financial hardship. For this reason, some additional funds have been allocated to our existing financial aid programs. These additional funds are limited and will be disbursed to eligible students on a first come first serve basis. This funding is exclusively for students experiencing financial hardships due to the strike; some examples of requests for support that are a direct result of the strike include:

• Additional housing costs due to the extension of fall term
• Additional housing costs due to a roommate leaving, resulting in a student having to pay extra rent
• Additional food costs over the holiday break due to the extension of the fall term
• Unexpected childcare expenses due to the extension of the fall term

Students will be required to submit an application which will be reviewed to determine whether or not they meet the eligibility criteria for the funds. The funds are available to undergraduate and graduate students.

Sources of funding

1. Emergency Loans

The University of Manitoba emergency loan program provides short-term assistance to students who experience unexpected and immediate financial expenses or constraints.

Emergency loan funds are not intended to act as a regular supplement or substitute for traditional forms of student financial aid, i.e. government loans, scholarships, and bursaries. Therefore, all students applying for emergency funding are expected to have a reasonable financial plan in place to cover normal school expenses, including tuition and living expenses, at the beginning of each academic session.   

In order to be considered for an Emergency Loan a student must:

• Be enrolled as a full-time student in the current academic session to which they are applying. There will be an exception made this year only for those students who have reduced their course load due to the strike, this would be identified on their application form.
• Have repaid all outstanding emergency loans from previous academic sessions;
• Have obtained a passing grade of “D” or better on all courses taken in the previous academic session.
• Provide documentation indicating that they will be receiving sufficient funding to meet tuition and living costs for the academic session (Government Loan Notice of Assistance, loan documents, sponsorship letter). We will consider making exceptions this year regarding living expenses, should the rationale the student provides be strike-related.
• Be able to explain clearly why emergency assistance is required and how the loan will be repaid. Students who are applying for an emergency loan for strike-related reasons will be required to indicate this on their application form.

2. General Bursaries

Every year, the University of Manitoba offers a wide-range of bursaries to both new and continuing full-time and part-time students who are enrolled in school from September to April who have a demonstrated financial need and a minimum academic standing. Bursary awards are primarily based upon financial need. Criteria used in assessing bursaries includes, but is not limited to:

• Unanticipated personal living costs
• Unexpected delays in government loans
• Unexpected delays in other award funding.

How do students apply?

The application deadline for general bursaries has passed; this means that we will only consider disbursing bursaries to students in financial need due to financial hardship resulting from the strike. The emergency loan program operates on a continual basis; as a result, we expect to receive emergency loan applications from students for reasons that are strike-related, and for non-strike-related reasons.

All students will be asked to complete the “Emergency Student Assistance Application Form” and submit this form to the Financial Aid & Award Office or the Faculty Graduate Studies. The forms can be found by using the following links:

For undergraduate students: http://umanitoba.ca/student/fin_awards/media/EL_APP_FALL_WINTER.pdf

For graduate students: https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/graduate_studies/media/emergency_loan.pdf

The submitted forms will be reviewed by the Financial Aid & Awards Office, for undergraduate students, and by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, for graduate students. Once the review of the financial support application is complete, the student will be notified as to whether they will receive a loan, a bursary, or no support. If it is determined based on the application that financial support is appropriate the student will:

• Receive a bursary if the deficit is a result of a strike-related matter, and they demonstrate that they will be unable to repay a loan.
• Receive an emergency loan if they are able to demonstrate an ability to repay the loan in the future.

Note: The loan could be for a strike-related, or non-strike-related matter given that this program operates on a continual basis.

Note: The maximum amount of support disbursed to an individual student will be $800 at the undergraduate level and $1,000 at the graduate level. A limited amount of funds are available and the funds will be disbursed to eligible students on a first come first serve basis.

Yours,

Susan Gottheil,

Vice-Provost (Students)