Have you had an unexpected expense or major life event causing you to think about dropping or reducing units?
The Basic Needs Committee has Emergency Grant funding available to help you stay enrolled! The goal is to provide immediate, short-term assistance to help students directly stabilize their situation and continue on their journey of educational success.
Requirements to Qualify
- Must demonstrate exceptional need resulting from a sudden, unexpected emergency, that will interfere with your courses during the Fall 2025 semester.
- Students MUST provide documentation of the emergency (ex. pay or quit notice, utilities shut off notice, copy of overdue bills, medical bills, etc) that has caused this financial burden. This documentation must have the student's name and a date on it.
- Must be actively enrolled in Fall 2025 course/s, meaning your Fall course must have already started. Funds will not be disbursed until your course begins.
- Students can only be awarded if they have submitted the 2025-2026 Financial Aid Application to the Columbia College Financial Aid Office.
- Columbia College must be your primary school of attendance during the semester you are applying.
Emergency Grant Guidelines
- Award amounts will be decided based on meeting requirements, financial need, statement, documentation provided, and funding availability.
- Processing time is approximately 2-3 weeks and may be delayed if sufficient documentation is not provided.
- Funding is limited and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Priority will be given to first time awardees.
- Students may apply more than once in a 12-month period if the emergency is different than your previous request.
- The maximum award amount for full time (12 or more units) students is $3,000 in a 12-month period.
- Applications submitted with AI-generated statements will not be reviewed. We are requesting you to detail your situation in your own words.
- The Basic Needs Committee meets weekly and will review applications from the previous week. If you have additional questions regarding this timeline, email ccbasicneeds@yosemite.edu for a prompt response.
- Students will be notified of the award decision via email and will be required to have an active Bank Mobile account set up to receive the funding.
- If you owe tuition or fees with the Business Office, those fees will have to be taken out of your grant funding and you will then receive the remaining funds.
Application:
The application for the Fall 2025 semester is now open!
Please visit Fall 2025 Basic Needs Emergency Grant application to access the application.
No payments will be sent out the week of Thanksgiving, due to the holiday. Thank you for your understanding.
The Fall 2025 app will close on 12/07/2025 and the Spring 2026 application will open on 01/26/2026. If you have an immediate need while there is no available application, please email ccbasicneeds@yosemite.edu
