After raising over €200,000 in donations in recent weeks, Trinity’s student hardship fund will keep a portion of the contributions back as a “war chest” for next year, amid fears of a sharp economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus.
Speaking to The University Times , Senior Tutor Aidan Seery said: “I am particularly conscious that a large number of students will not have any employment this summer.”
“I can foresee literally hundreds of students struggling to put together registration fees and get accommodation as their opportunity in June [and] July to get out and make money is just not going to happen.”
“The great hardship is not coming right now”, Seery said, “it is coming September, October and into next term. So these large donations that we have received, this fund is our war chest coming into next year”.
Seery hailed the “extraordinary” generosity of those who donated to the fund – which raised over €200,000 in a week after launching a campaign calling for contributions.
“I have had single donations of €30,000, of €10,000”, he said. “I mean, it is just amazing, and I believe it has hit the quarter of a million, you know, in the course of, what, about 10 days?”
Trinity is offering 30 days of alternative accommodation, using Kavanagh Court and possibly Trinity Hall, for students experiencing homelessness, Seery said. “There’s not many of them”, he said “but they’re staying in very poor hotels and for the four or 5 of them, we have managed to secure them alternative accommodation”.
The students hardship fund will also be used to help students in need of help to sit their assessments, which are taking place in online and offline, take-home, format.
“We have supported and contributed to students changing their data packages so they can possibly hotspot off of their phone if that is a solution”, Seery said. “We have been able to source equipment for some students.”
Trinity Development and Alumni has raised over €200,000 for the student hardship fund, after launching an appeal for donations two weeks ago.
The student hardship fund, which is operated by the undergraduate student support officer, provides financial support to students in financial difficulty, and is partly funded by the government and the European Social Fund.
Earlier this year, the hardship fund drew headlines when an anonymous donor, who had previously used the fund while in Trinity, made a donation of almost €400,000 to the fund.
Speaking to The University Times at the time of the donation, Seery said: “Although we have had two large donations in the last 12 months, we also receive large donations each year – five-figure sums – from the SU and from Alumni.”
Seery added that Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU), Raise and Give (RAG) week would raise “€30 or €40,000”.
