Students thrown into chaos
In mid-March, Kyumin Lee’s world was turned upside down. Amid growing reports of a wildly contagious and potentially deadly virus reaching world pandemic proportions, Trinity College was forced to close its doors.
Lee, who was in her first year of the Life Sciences program, describes the experience as “horrifying.” The 19-year-old international student, who shares an off-campus apartment, also lost her part-time job as a hostess at a karaoke club. Her roommate, also an international student, managed to fly to Korea to be with her family. Lee’s flight – she was heading home to Colombia to spend the summer with her family – was cancelled. Within a matter of days, she found herself alone in her apartment, with no family nearby for support. “It felt so empty and lonely here,” she says. “I was really sad, and scared.”
Lee still had to complete her term and exams, all online (“I found myself wishing for 8 a.m. classes for the first time,” she says). She found the shift to online learning stressful, and although she was still able to connect with the College’s health and wellness team virtually, she missed her in-person counselling appointments. To make matters worse, she quickly found herself scrambling to pay her rent. Her parents did what they could to help, but Lee quickly drained her emergency fund and found herself panicking about how to make ends meet.
Then she remembered an email about urgent funding for students. After completing an online application and outlining her immediate needs, she received enough money to pay her rent and buy some food.
“That funding helped me to not lose all hope,” says Lee. “I don’t know what I would have done without it.”
“I am extremely proud to be part of a community like ours that looks out for the College and its students”
Lee is one of thousands of students across the country who have lost their jobs or internships and quickly found themselves living in precarious circumstances. Fortunately, the Trinity community has quickly stepped up to help its own: Donations to support bursaries have topped $54,000 over the past six weeks alone, thanks to contributions from alumni, staff and faculty.
“I am extremely proud to be part of a community like ours that looks out for the College and its students,” says Andrew McFarlane ’93, Chair of the Trinity College Board of Trustees. “We’ve had a swift and incredible show of support from alumni, and our students will continue to need us in the months ahead.”
That prediction seems likely, with many Trinity students having lost their ability to save for the fall term over this summer and many parents now less able to contribute to education costs due to their own financial challenges. Supporting urgent bursary needsenables the College to direct funds to where they are needed most, including urgent bursary needs for students.
“We have an incredible legacy of alumni who care deeply about current and future generations of Trinity students,” says Alana Silverman, Executive Director of Alumni Affairs & Development. “They have established generous bursaries and scholarships, and have been reaching out over the past few months to ask what more they can do to help. Ensuring student success was already a key goal of the Living Trinity campaign, and as we move forward it will become even more important. We anticipate a greater need than ever before in the months and years ahead for scholarships and bursaries, as well as expanded health and wellness support for students struggling to balance the demands of school, finances and health within the context of a global pandemic.”
For her part, Lee is looking for contactless work as a telemarketer, and has been sewing cloth masks to give to friends and to sell to others online for extra cash. She hopes to be able to afford to enrol in an online course this summer. As an international student, her tuition costs are significantly higher than her Canadian peers, but she is ineligible for government support in the form of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB). And her low employment earnings in 2019 (she began her part-time job in December) make her ineligible to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).
As for the fall term, the only thing Lee is certain of is her desire to stay. Since arriving in Canada for the first time last September, she has felt more accepted and at home than ever before. “I feel like I’m part of a community at Trinity,” she says, adding that she hopes to make Canada her permanent home.
“I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. It meant a lot to me to know that there are people out there looking out for me. Since I won’t have the opportunity to thank them in person, I want everyone who has donated to this fund to know that I’m very grateful.”
Fourth-year geology student Akuei Nyol Kuol had great plans for the summer: He was set to begin in a two-week onsite field course connected with his program, followed by a research course to complete his undergraduate thesis. He also hoped to find a summer job on campus. “Covid messed up everything,” he says.
Kuol, too, quickly found himself unable to pay his monthly rent. He applied for an urgent bursary and received funds within days, enabling him to pay rent and buy groceries. “I don’t know what I would have done otherwise,” he says. “It meant a lot to me to know that there are people out there looking out for me. Since I won’t have the opportunity to thank them in person, I want everyone who has donated to this fund to know that I’m very grateful.”
To help support urgent student bursaries, please complete the donation form online, or contact a member of the Alumni Affairs team.