NEW YORK, November 12, 2013—The Institute of International Education (IIE), with support from the Freeman Foundation, has created an Emergency Student Fund (ESF) to help students from the Philippines on U.S. campuses whose home country support has been devastated by the recent Typhoon Haiyan.
IIE is issuing a call for nominations from U.S. colleges and universities that currently have students from the Philippines enrolled on their campuses who have emergency needs for funds to continue their studies so that their academic careers are not interrupted as a result of the financial situation in their home country.
Philippines-ESF will provide grants of $3,000 each to selected Filipino students nominated by their U.S. host colleges and universities who are unable to continue or complete their degree program in the United States. Administrators and faculty from accredited U.S. campuses can nominate up to three Filipino students at their institutions who need financial assistance to stay enrolled in the spring 2014 semester. Priority will be given to undergraduates and to those with the most urgent financial need and those closest to graduation.
International Student Advisers or other campus officials should submit applications to IIE by December 4, 2013. Awards will be announced in mid-December. To nominate students, advisers must complete the Philippines-ESF nomination form and e-mail it to ESF@iie.org. Nomination forms will be available starting November 13, 2013 at IIE Emergency Student Fund. Applications directly from students will NOT be accepted.
U.S. host campuses nominating students for Philippines-ESF awards are expected to provide some emergency assistance to the nominated students, through tuition waivers, full or partial scholarships, housing, stipends, loans, work study, or other forms of support.
According to data in IIE’s Open Doors 2013 report, produced with support from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, colleges and universities reported more than 3,200 students from Philippines studying in the United States, more than 50% at the undergraduate level. United States campuses are beginning to provide support, but more help is needed so that these students can complete their studies.
Allan E. Goodman, president and CEO of the Institute of International Education, said, “Our goal is to help relieve the financial burden that is compounding these students’ personal distress, and to encourage them to complete their U.S. studies so they can return home with the skills and new knowledge to help rebuild their shattered communities.”
IIE’s Emergency Student Fund provides grants to post-secondary students matriculated at accredited educational institutions outside their home countries whose sources of support have been impacted by natural disaster or other crises. Since 2010, IIE’s ESF has provided over $1 million to more than 400 students from Syria, Iran, Japan, Haiti, Libya, and Thailand whose home sources of financial support were impacted by crisis or natural disaster.
To make the emergency grants for students from the Philippines, the Institute will draw upon a special fund created by IIE and the Freeman Foundation to assist students from Asia facing major crises at home or in the United States. The Fund has previously been used to assist U.S.-based students from Asia during the financial crisis in the late 1990s, after the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004, and following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The Institute seeks additional contributions for the Emergency Student Fund so that it can respond quickly to help international students when disasters and emergencies in their home countries threaten to jeopardize the completion of their studies.
About the Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education is a world leader in the international exchange of people and ideas. An independent, not-for-profit organization founded in 1919, IIE has a network of 19 offices and affiliates worldwide and over 1,200 member institutions. IIE designs and implements programs of study and training for students, educators, young professionals and trainees from all sectors with funding from government agencies, foundations, and corporations. IIE also conducts policy research and program evaluations, and provides advising and counseling on international education and opportunities abroad.
About the Freeman Foundation
The Freeman Foundation’s major objectives include strengthening the bonds of friendship between the United States and countries of East Asia. Through education and educational institutes, the Foundation hopes to develop a greater appreciation of Asian cultures, histories, and economies in the United States and a better understanding of the American people and of American institutions and purposes by the peoples of East Asia.
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