» MATC union:
Money will help those facing financial crises
The union that represents faculty, counselors and professional staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College has raised nearly $17,000 to continue an emergency financial assistance program to help students stay in school and complete degrees.
The union that represents faculty, counselors and professional staff at Milwaukee Area Technical College has raised nearly $17,000 to continue an emergency financial assistance program to help students stay in school and complete degrees.
“We’re acutely aware of the extraordinary financial challenges many of our students face,” said Lisa Conley, president of AFT Local 212.
Last year, the Local 212 FAST (Faculty and Students Together) Fund contributed $7,500 to students facing sudden financial crises. It helped three students avoid eviction, three homeless students secure housing, and paid for tools and books. It also covered testing for healthcare students and provided tuition assistance for students who no longer qualified for financial aid, according to the union.
A majority of MATC students are from Milwaukee, one of the nation’s poorest cities. And 72% use federal Pell Grants for low-income students to help pay for college.
When the Pell program began, it paid the entire cost of attending a twoyear college. Now it pays 60%.
“This is one reason student debt has become the second largest form of debt in the United States,” Conley said.
The nearly $17,000 raised for the Local 212 FAST Fund will keep the student emergency assistant fund going for the 2017–’18 academic year.
The union started the fund last year with a grant from Believe in Students, a nonprofit organization created by former UW-Madison professor Sara Goldrick-Rab, an educational policy scholar-activist focused on college access and affordability. She left Wisconsin last summer for Temple University.
The MATC grant was part of a larger emergency financial aid program created by Goldrick-Rab’s nonprofit to support students at three colleges around the country each year.
“Today the promise of a college degree in exchange for hard work and dedication is no longer accurate,” said Goldrick-Rab, who wrote the book, “Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid and the Betrayal of the American Dream.”
Goldrick-Rab said students from economically disadvantaged families “face a huge gap” between their financial aid and the cost of college.
MATC has its own student emergency fund called Dreamkeepers, which provides small emergency grants of less than $500 to students.
The Dreamkeepers program doesn’t administer grants during the summer or winter breaks. FAST Fund is a small grant available year-round for students who aren’t eligible for Dreamkeepers, or who need money in less than 48 hours.
“The whole purpose of the FAST Fund was to give students quick access without a lot of bureaucracy or red tape,” said Michael Rosen, a retired economics Instructor and former Local 212 president who administers the fund for the union.
Examples of emergencies include loss due to fire, theft or accident, and a sudden, unavoidable interruption of income.
“The need was eye-opening, even though I worked there and knew there were large numbers of students who were impoverished,” Rosen said of his first year administering the grants.
Students apply for either the Dreamkeeper or FAST Fund assistance through the same web page.
All donations to the FAST Fund are tax deductible. Contributions may be made out to “Believe in Students Inc.” and sent to the Local 212 office, 739 W. Juneau Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53233.