VANCOUVER, Wash. – Washington State University Vancouver has received a $75,000 grant from the Genentech Foundation to support students who need financial help to complete their education, particularly because of extra hardships created by COVID-19. The grant includes $25,000 for the Student Emergency Fund and $50,000 for Second Chance Scholarships.
"COVID-19 has exacerbated the many challenges already facing low-income students and their families,” said Kristin Campbell Reed, executive director of the Genentech Foundation. “We know that financial crises, however small, can force students to cease their studies. We are pleased to support WSU Vancouver's responsiveness and efforts to enable vulnerable students to complete their degrees."
Student Emergency Funds are available for currently enrolled students who have exhausted all financial aid resources and are experiencing financial emergencies, such as housing, food, health care and materials required for classes. Second Chance Scholarships support students who are one to three semesters from graduation and have run out of money.
“These funds are critical for recruiting and retaining our students,” said Kelli Rule, development director at WSU Vancouver, “especially those who are at risk of dropping out or who were not eligible for CARES Act funding.” The CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act is a program of the U.S. Department of Education.
About the Genentech Foundation
The Genentech Foundation is a U.S.-based, private charitable foundation whose donations are made possible by contributions from the Genentech corporation. The Foundation seeks to challenge and dismantle systemic barriers to create pathways into sustainable careers in science and medicine. Genentech is a biotechnology company dedicated to pursuing groundbreaking science to discover and develop medicines for people with serious and life-threatening diseases. Its transformational discoveries include the first targeted antibody for cancer and the first medicine for primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
About WSU Vancouver
As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations.
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