Emergency fund for students in financial difficulties due to war

11 March 2022

Student life

The university and the Erasmus Trust Fund are each contributing 25,000 euro to an emergency fund for students who are experiencing financial difficulties due to the war in Ukraine. Chair of the Executive Board Ed Brinksma announced the fund on Thursday afternoon during the meeting of the University Council.

Students showed solidarity for Ukraine by organising a protest in front of stadhuis in February 2022.
Image by: Alisa Mahaletska

Students from Ukraine and Russia may find themselves in financial difficulties as a result of the war, for example because their families are on the run, transactions are no longer possible or because the ruble has fallen in value enormously. The university is therefore setting up an emergency fund. For the time being, 50,000 euro will be made available for the fund, which should be enough to assist students for the next three months.*

Worry

88 students from Ukraine are studying at Erasmus University, Brinksma said, some of whom followed online lectures from Ukraine. 177 Russian students are also enrolled at EUR, and two students are or were on exchange in Russia.

Many Ukrainian and Russian students are concerned about their financial situations, according to several interviews. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford that in the future”, Ukrainian Bohdan, for example, told EM earlier this week about the tuition fees. “My family is out of work. And taking a loan is also risky, because what does my future look like after this?”

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Update Monday 14 March: In addition to the 25,000 euro from the trust fund and the university, private individuals can also donate to the emergency fund. In the past few days, another 17,000 euro has been raised.

*Update Friday 18 March: In the University Council the emergency fund was discussed, and it was said by the president of the board, Ed Brinksma, that the 50,000 euros deposited by the Trust Fund and the university would be sufficient for the coming period. It now appears that what was meant was that this would be sufficient to start the fund and that the further budget required would have to come from third-party donations.