Morgan Receives $110K in COVID-19 Pandemic Relief from Andrew K. Mellon Foundation

Funds to Support Emergency Student Needs and Fall Enrollment Efforts

Morgan State University (MSU) announced today receipt of a $110,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for emergency student support to bridge financial fallout resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant also aims to provide much-needed relief assisting MSU’s efforts to stabilize enrollments for the upcoming academic year.

Delivering direct assistance to individual students who have needs particular to the crisis, the Mellon Foundation grant will help address monetary shortfalls related to loss of unemployment, food insecurities, outstanding tuition commitments, technological needs for remote learning, travel to and from school, and more.

“The Mellon Foundation has been a true partner to Morgan and we are exceedingly grateful to have been selected as a recipient of this gracious support in the form of emergency grants for our deserving students in need,” said David K. Wilson, president of Morgan State University. “Indeed, these are trying times and our students are confronted with tremendous challenges. The generosity of the Mellon Foundation will be instrumental in maintaining our students’ enrollment and progress through their academic studies as we look toward the fall semester.”

The timely relief from the Mellon Foundation will supplement the University’s Fund for Emergency Assistance and Student Success, an existing effort Morgan established in early April spearheaded by the Morgan State University Foundation (MSUF) and MSU’s Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMASS). Collectively, the two relief efforts have amassed more than $300,000 in aid for Morgan students facing hardships due to the unexpected expenses associated with the pandemic.

“HBCUs play an essential role in shaping the minds and futures of our nation’s talented young people,” said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander. “As the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects under resourced institutions and communities of color, the Mellon Foundation is proud to provide focused support for students attending these vital historically black schools.”

Undergraduate and graduate students will be able to apply through an online application to receive grants of up to $1,000. The funds will not reimburse expenses that have already been paid, or to replace existing financial aid. Students who receive aid will not be required to pay the funds back as the financial support is not a loan. The University will disburse all funds within 12 months.

Founded in 1969, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation seeks to strengthen, promote, and defend the centrality of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse, fair, and democratic societies. The Foundation’s core programs support exemplary and inspiring institutions of higher education and culture. Additional information is available at mellon.org.

About Morgan
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 126 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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