The truism goes that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Keeping Aid Simple
Penn Dental’s Student Emergency Fund supports students during the unforeseeable
Published: August 15, 2024
It’s a simplicity that isn’t always present for students pursuing degrees at Penn’s School of Dental Medicine, who balance clinical exams, residency, patient care, and career planning on top of daily routines. And when the unexpected arises—sudden travel to testify, housing that becomes unsafe, a death in the family—it can create an overwhelming complexity.
For those students, the Student Emergency Fund is restoring at least some sense of a straight line.
Established last spring with a gift from an anonymous donor, the fund helps with unexpected costs including medical expenses, temporary housing, travel costs, and other unanticipated urgent needs. Inspired by the alumni donation, Penn Dental Medicine’s Morton Amsterdam Dean, Dr. Mark Wolff, has matched the funds available for this purpose.
Direct Access during Uncertainty
Student mental health and wellness is a priority for Penn Dental, and for Margaret Yang, Director of Student Affairs and Engagement, the emergency fund “makes it so that I can better support the students,” she says. “Just knowing that this money is set aside, and I don’t need to jump through hoops or turn to other offices to disburse it—that’s incredible.”
The school’s dean matched funds available for this purpose, and so far, a small and grateful group of students has been able to draw on the support. Ryan McGuire, a third-year dental student, is one of them. Within a three-week period, two family crises arose without much warning: in early February, a member of his fiancée’s family began readying to legally end her life, and family members traveled to offer support and pay their respects; the following week, a close great-uncle passed away unexpectedly. His father had also passed away from lung cancer not long before.
“As a student, money was tight, but there are certain things that you have to get to,” says Ryan. “We probably spent about forty hours on the road. Between two rental cars and gas, we were drawing on our rainy-day fund. It was a difficult time.”
For Ryan, the Student Emergency Fund came as a welcome relief. “At first I was afraid that it would be something else to handle or balance,” he said. But because of the fund’s direct design, for Ryan, it was a simple as a frank review of the situation with Yang. “The Dental School always says that it’s here to support students, so it felt good to experience that support and feel that Penn was behind me. It was a great relief.”
When I was in the dental school in the ‘60s, I at one point had a need for some money. I was searching around to see how I could get some, and I came across an interest-free loan that I was to pay back once I graduated. I did, and I was always thankful to that fund for providing for that need I had… I want these students to get that financial assistance that they need. It’s a simple gift.”Anonymous donor
Continuing the Line from Aid to B
Along with Ryan, a handful of other students have also benefitted from the fund in times of need. There are some requirements: the fund specifically supports expenses that are essential to the safety and wellbeing of students or are otherwise necessary to make progress toward degree requirements. And in certain cases, supporting documentation such as a police report or doctor’s note might be requested, says Yang. “There are checks and balances in place on our end about how we’re awarding money,” she clarifies.
For students, however, the process is streamlined. “It’s really about giving students the assistance they need, and if necessary, connecting them to support beyond what the emergency fund provides,” says Yang. And like Ryan, another recipient observed that “it’s a great feeling to have the support of the school behind you at a hard time. It is something that I am truly grateful for.”
That gratitude is something the fund’s benefactor hopes recipients will remember and, as they graduate to careers in dentistry, can perhaps one day repay. Even when life throws a curve ball, the shortest distance between student need and student aid is often a straight line.
