Morgan State University Receives $110K In COVID-19 Relief From Andrew K. Mellon Foundation
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Morgan State University has received a $110,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for emergency student support to help deal with financial fallout due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The grant is meant to give direct assistance to individual students who are having financial issues due to losing their jobs, food insecurity, outstanding tuition commitments, technological needs for remote learning, traveling to and from school and more, the school said.
"The Mellon Foundation has been a true partner to Morgan and we are exceedingly grateful to have been selected as a recipient of this gracious support in the form of emergency grants for our deserving students in need," said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. "Indeed, these are trying times and our students are confronted with tremendous challenges. The generosity of the Mellon Foundation will be instrumental in maintaining our students' enrollment and progress through their academic studies as we look toward the fall semester."
The relief is meant to supplement the University's Fund for Emergency Assistance and Student Success, an effort MSU established in early April from the Morgan State University Foundation and MSU's Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success. The two relief efforts have collected more than $300,000 in aid for Morgan students facing hardships due to the pandemic.
Undergraduate and graduate students will be able to apply through an online application to receive grants of up to $1,000. The funds will not reimburse expenses that have already been paid, or to replace existing financial aid. Students who receive aid will not be required to pay the funds back as the financial support is not a loan. The University will disburse all funds within 12 months.
"HBCUs play an essential role in shaping the minds and futures of our nation's talented young people," said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. "As the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects under-resourced institutions and communities of color, the Mellon Foundation is proud to provide focused support for students attending these vital historically black schools."
