Independent Exeter Student Relief Fund Open For Donations

Link to Donate: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/8ooLmQf3xc
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By Moksha Akil, Anya Tang and Clark Wu

As the Exeter community adjusts to the online term, Exonians face unprecedented financial obstacles. While some worry about Zoom logistics, others must find ways to support their families to pay rent, purchase food or meet other needs. To mitigate this issue, seniors Benjamin Cai and Gannon McCorkle hope to launch an independently-financed Independent Exeter Student Relief Fund with donations from students and alumni.

To advocate for this fund, Cai and McCorkle conducted an anonymous survey of students and alumni over the past few weeks. Promoted through Instagram and Facebook, their survey gathered 143 responses and gauged common issues low-income students face. Popular responses included “food insecurity,” “rent/mortgage” and “healthcare/health insurance.” Over a quarter of survey respondents reported “mental health challenges.”

According to McCorkle’s message in the survey, Cai and himself “creat[ed] this PEA COVID-19 Affected Community Survey to get a better sense of the needs of our community.” Their project “was inspired by a similar fund at Dartmouth College that has successfully raised more $15,000 from alumni, faculty, classmates, and friends and supported 25+ vulnerable students,” McCorkle wrote. Cai and McCorkle aim to raise at least $10,000 to leave a similar impact on the Exeter community.

This fund will be named after the senior class as one class gift to the Academy’s students. “We're going to tentatively call it the Class of 2020 Exeter Student COVID-19 Fund,” Cai said.

Working with several other current Exonians from a range of backgrounds, Cai and McCorkle are finalizing administrative negotiations and have begun to reach out to those in the Exeter network. The group has also written a handbook, “one that allows people to track grants, donate, request funds, see FAQ, data, and more,” Cai said.

They have identified Paypal as their primary method of collecting funds. “Right now, we're forming a committee of current Exonians who are going to be in charge of taking in requests and saying who gets funding. Gannon's already set up the PayPal and has linked to it,” Cai said. “Our highest priorities are housing and medical bills and the rest is sort of to be determined.” The committee will also use Alipay and WeChat to collect international families’ donations.

As of April 30th, The group has already amassed a total of almost $2400 from the Chinese student family WeChat group and a committee member’s WeChat subscription account. PayPal has thus far raised $850, a figure expected to rise after the committee launches their major funding campaign on Instagram this Friday.

The process for acquiring funds is designed to protect student confidentiality while remaining accessible. “The form request process is a simple Google Form. The student, on behalf of their family, will request X amount [of money]. Then, they will describe their situation as much as they’re comfortably possible with, and they don’t have to put their name on the form,” Cai said. “It’s supposed to maintain their anonymity as much as possible. If they’re not comfortable with writing out their situation, they can also just call one of our representatives. The rest of the form is just logistics, like if they’ve asked for funding from the school.”

To ensure the security of the funds and accountability of the applicants, the committee has “decided to add three PEA-specific questions to verify eligibility. We also keep track of where the money is going to via the transfer method specified by the applicant,” Cai shared. “Requests for sums greater than $500 will also be contacted by a representative.”

Additionally, to increase transparency of the project, a spreadsheet will be available to the public with types of grants given, but without any identifying information.

McCorkle and Cai met with Principal Bill Rawson on April 13, presenting the survey’s findings and discussing Exeter's ability to support low-income students. “The school does have funds available, like the Experience Exeter fund, that are specifically dedicated to the educational expenses, which goes pretty far,” Cai said. “Let’s say you need glasses for your classes—that technically would count as an educational expense.”

However, Cai noted that these funds do have their limitations. “We asked the school, if a student’s family is struggling with rent, if the school can do anything about it. To our understanding, the school doesn’t have the infrastructure, so they don’t have people to verify or review requests for personal hardships. They can’t cover any rent,” he said.

Despite the limitations to existing school funds, Rawson stated the Academy is unable to create its own Relief Fund at this time. “Thought was given to creating a COVID-19 student relief fund so alumni with interest could contribute to the added educational expenses related to the public health crisis,” Principal Rawson said. “We did not do this because we already had a fund to support school-related expenses that interested persons could donate to, and we did not want to give the false impression that we are in a position to address personal, family needs unrelated to attending Exeter.”

Cai expressed his understanding of the school’s position but voiced concerns for the low-income community. “I don't necessarily think it's the school's responsibility to act as a social security net. But you could make the argument that [rent] is an educational expense. If a student is learning online and about to be evicted for whatever reason, they're going to be behind,” he said.

Peers schools have launched similar campaigns to organize financial support systems for their students—Choate Rosemary Hall is one prominent example. “Inspired by the work of Gannon and Ben, the Choate Student Council is currently approaching our school's administration to explore the development of a similar relief aid fund,” Choate Student Council President Ula Lucas said. “Many members of the Choate community, both as individuals and through student organizations, have established COVID-19 related aid campaigns.”

Deerfield Academy has also developed such initiatives, working with their student council and administration. “The student community has set up many COVID-19 relief efforts, including an organization called Shielding Our Defenders to help donate N95 masks,” Deerfield Student Council President Kareena Bhakta said. “The student council has been in close contact with the administration who has been open to hearing and implementing our ideas to the best of their abilities.”

Cai hopes that, in this difficult time, the community will rally around those who need it. “I think it's sometimes too easy at Exeter to forget that you have a lot of kids that do come from working class backgrounds and they don't have stable income,” he said. “Every dollar counts. This is a great opportunity for us to come together as a community in the spirit of non sibi.”