WUSA has committed to establish a support fund to help students who are struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be working diligently over the coming days to outline the details of this fund, including how students can access it. We are currently engaging the University of Waterloo and its Advancement Department to increase funding and support opportunities for students!

On March 23, our Internal Funding Committee (IFC) committed to establishing a Student Emergency Support Fund (aimed to be a subsidiary account of the Student Life Endowment Fund) to relieve pressure on students currently struggling with costs they didn’t anticipate, students who are unable to work to offset some of those costs from layoffs or otherwise due to COVID-19, and to support critical student services. The IFC – a Committee of the Students’ Council – controls the granting of funds from the Student Life Endowment Funds (SLEF), the Enterprise Opportunity and Innovation Fund (EOI), and the Special Projects Fund (SPF).

The IFC supported a proposal to create a fund for student support/relief during the COVID-19 pandemic from the expendable allowance of SLEF of an amount up to $30,000, subject to some conditions, that include but are not limited to:

WUSA try to make it a joint project with the University of Waterloo, and that UWaterloo try to at least match the contributions

WUSA try to partner with Advancement/Alumni Relations to engage Alumni to help support our students and key student services

This student support/relief fund have a Terms of Reference, which at minimum specifies that any unspent allowances following its dissolution or wind-up (at the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic) are intended to be rolled into the Student Life Endowment Fund as a permanent contribution to SLEF’s principal balance (for ongoing support to student life and safety at UWaterloo), or for continued existence as a stand alone fund for student support

We are hopeful that the University and our passionate alumni will join us to help provide financial support to UWaterloo students at this unprecedented time. Keep an eye out for more updates in the coming days!