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What To Do If You’re a Student Displaced or Disrupted by the Coronavirus Pandemic

Financial aid, remote learning, career readiness, and more.

Date Published: March 19, 2020

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and colleges across the country are drastically changing the way they operate, and several are shutting their campuses down altogether. The reality is, schools have to make some really tough decisions right now. We are in an unprecedented time in modern history, and we’re sure that these choices weren’t taken lightly.

That doesn’t mean that it isn’t hard on students.

School closures can displace students, disrupt their learning, and severely impact their outlook on the future. While these measures are intended first and foremost to keep students healthy and safe, it leaves a lot of students (especially first-generation, low-income, and international students) in a difficult situation, to say the least.

It’s a weird, uncertain time for everyone -- students especially. We don’t have all the answers for you because, well, nobody really does. But here’s a place for you to start.

While we’re practicing social distancing, we don’t have to feel alone. And while we’re feeling scared or anxious or sad, we don’t have to feel hopeless. Join millions of DoSomething members using our resources to stay healthy, fight anxiety, and make a difference on the causes we care about.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Moving and Storage

If your college campus is shutting down, and you’re scrambling to get packed and moved out of your dorm earlier than expected, these offers may be helpful.

Housing

Even if dorms close, you may not be able leave the area because of work or internship commitments -- or maybe you don’t have another place to go to at all. In this case, there are a few resources that can help you find a new living situation.

Food

With dining halls closing and meal plans becoming unusable, accessing food can get a little tricky. Here are some tools to help you out with groceries and meals.

If you’re a high school student (or know a high school student) who relied on their school for meals, chances are that your school has a system in place to make sure students get fed during closures.

If you need some help finding it, google your school or school district’s name and “meal distribution” or “grab-and-go meals.”

Financial Help

There are a lot of things that you may need financial help with during this time, from emergency housing to groceries and toiletries to technology for remote learning.

Your school is the very first place you should go for financial help. Most schools have some kind of emergency fund or student success office, and they’ll be the most likely (and probably the fastest) source of help.

If you need some help finding it, google your college’s name and “emergency fund,” “emergency aid,” or “student relief fund.”

If your school doesn’t have an emergency fund then you might consider exploring these other options.

  • Student Relief Fund will work with you to identify resources and solutions to help. While they can’t offer direct financial aid through this website, they can help you find it.
  • One Fair Wage may be able to help if you’re a restaurant worker, delivery driver or other tipped worker or service worker and losing income as a result of the pandemic.
  • Student Loans may be adding to your financial stress, in which case, there are some steps you can take to help minimize their impact.

Mental Health

Amid everything that’s happening right now, it’s really easy to put yourself on autopilot and float through the new challenges that each day brings.

Allow yourself the time and space to grieve. Your life may be rapidly changing right now, and it’s okay to feel sad, angry, or disappointed about things that aren’t all about the current health crisis -- like not seeing your friends or missing important milestones.

Remember that your mental health is just as important as your physical health, and here are some resources to help you take care of it.

Planning for College

High school seniors face the unique challenge of planning for college in the middle of a pandemic, balancing both social distancing and campus closures. These might make the process a little less daunting.

Exercise

Maybe your sports season got cut short, or maybe you lost access to your school’s fitness center. There are still plenty of ways to keep your heart pumping while maintaining social distancing.

Remote Learning

Yes, students are trying to keep it light by joking about their recent enrollment in Zoom University, and we’re all learning as we go. Here are some resources to make your newly online classes a little easier.

Career Readiness

One look at the headlines predicting post-coronavirus economic turmoil, and you might be stressing hard about your future. We can’t predict what the job market has in store, but these resources can help you take control of the things you can.

Volunteer

Advocacy and activism is a big part of plenty of folks’ high school and college experiences. The good news is, you can continue to show up for the causes you care about even from home -- here’s how.

Just for Fun

Let’s face it. We’re living in an often strange, sometimes scary, and always unpredictable time. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t find joy where we can. These are some ideas for keeping busy in an era of social distancing.

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