Emergency resource helps keeps
students enrolled
MURFREESBORO,
Tenn. — For MTSU senior Terra Stembridge, the university’s emergency
micro-grant fund was the lifeline that kept her enrolled for fall semester and
on track to obtain her entrepreneurship degree from the Jones College of
Business in the spring.
“I’m
extremely grateful,” the 25-year-old Woodbury, Tennessee, resident told the
crowd gathered Thursday (Oct. 19) inside the Student Union for a special
presentation to two community donors who replenished the fund for fall
semester.
MTSU
President Sidney A. McPhee was joined by deans, administrators and university
staff as he presented Yolanda Greene, Rutherford County market president for
First Tennessee Bank, and John Floyd, founder and owner of Ole South
Properties, with special framed “I Am True Blue” banners.
The two
companies contributed a combined $40,000 to replenish the fund and help
Stembridge and several students stay enrolled for the fall semester by taking
care of financial obligations that could lead to them being purged from the
rolls.
“When I
received news that I would receive the (grant) to keep me on track to graduate
in May, it made day,” Stembridge told Greene and Floyd. “I’m having my best
semester here at MTSU … I’m doing my best and I couldn’t have done it without
the both of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
The
Student Emergency Micro-grant Fund is available to help students with emergency
needs that may impact their ability to continue in school. The grants —
typically around $250 — help with verified need associated with a student’s
education, such as tuition and fees, books, housing, transportation, and
related needs.
McPhee
thanked both organizations for their long-standing support of the university’s
academic and athletic programs and for combining “not only their resources, but
their generous and caring spirit, to help students in need stay on course to
reach their goals in higher education.”
“We’re
ecstatic to be able to have the opportunity to partner with MTSU to allow
students to trust the process, to know that if they’re going to go to class, if
they’re going to put the dedication in to make sure that they’re going to get
through that journey, then things work,” Greene said.
Floyd, a
Rutherford County native, said helping the micro-grant fund “was an easy
decision to make” because of the university’s impact on the community,
including on his field through efforts like the student-run Blue Raider Realty,
the university’s nationally recognized concrete and construction management
program and through the several alumni who work for his company.
“I feel
like to whom much is given, much is expected,” Floyd said. “To me, investing in
MTSU is almost like investing in my future customers and past customers. It’s a
win-win and I appreciate the partnership.”
MTSU
started the micro-grant fund in 2014 through the leadership of university first
lady Elizabeth McPhee, who solicited support from churches and others
throughout the community to establish the emergency resource.
The
funds do not have to be repaid and are available to undergraduate, graduate and
international students. Students may be awarded the micro-grant only once
during their tenure at MTSU.
“They
are administered with a minimum of bureaucratic process and are dispensed by
the person best positioned to know and help the student, typically a dean,
associate dean or an admissions official,” McPhee noted.
McPhee
stressed that the university’s divisions of student affairs and finance have
worked to identify at-risk students as early as possible to inform them of the
micro-grant fund as it expands to meet student need before and during
semesters.
“The
need for this micro-grant program will not be satisfied with in one fell
swoop,” McPhee said. “But these gifts give us the foundation to move forward
and seek additional support to meet the ongoing needs of our students.”
For more
information about the fund, contact the MTSU Office of Student Success at
615-494-8650.
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