The Associated Students of Central Washington University (ASCWU) are liquidating all funding to go towards students who need financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students can apply through a Google form posted to ASCWU social media accounts.

ASCWU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Zackary Turner said applications will be reviewed on a case by case basis, and priority will be given to applicants who are members of vulnerable groups.

Vulnerable groups include students who are undocumented, immunosuppressed, low income, parents, disabled or have been laid off from work. There is no set maximum per student to allow leniency for those who may have great financial need. The goal of the ASCWU is to provide as much money to as many students as they can.

“We need to do something for the students,” Turner said.

ASCWU will meet twice a week starting March 23 to go over the applications. Over 330 applications have already been submitted as of March 21, 4 p.m. A majority of applicants are students who have been laid off or had hours cut from their university jobs, according to Turner.

There are two criteria that must be met to apply, including being enrolled for classes during spring quarter and demonstrating financial need.

If a student account has an outstanding balance, the money given by ASCWU will be applied to that balance before the remainder is sent as a “refund.” This “refund” will be applied to the account in the form of a scholarship.

According to Turner, the funds being used to assist students are coming from two pools of money.

Top Cats

The first pool of money is the Top Cats, a scholarship fund. It is funded by private donors, such as US Bank, which has a location in the SURC.

There is about $75,000 available from this pool, but the funds take longer to access because they must be processed through financial aid.

ASCWU funds

The second pool of funds is the ASCWU foundation account, which currently has around $10,000 available. The funds are faster to access and will be used to assist students who need help fast. The money in this account primarily comes from donations by alumni.

Turner said the ASCWU is looking into using ways to put together packs of groceries students can pick up if they need them.