Emergency and Experience Grants (EMERGE) Fund: Emergency Grants

The National Mentoring Community will begin accepting applications for EMERGE Grants beginning Jan. 13, 2025.

Timeline

Once applications open for EMERGE Grants beginning Jan. 13, 2025, students can apply on a rolling basis and if approved, receive funds within two weeks. You must be actively participating in the NMC mentorship program during the time you apply for the EMERGE Fund.

Eligibility

To apply for EMERGE Funding, you must:

  • Be registered as an NMC mentee​ enrolled in a physics or closely related degree​ program, such as engineering physics, applied physics, astrophysics, or biophysics​
  • Have matched with an NMC mentor or have contacted the NMC directly if you need help matching with a mentor, as you may still be eligible for funding
  • Only receive funds once per semester (fall, spring, summer)
  • Complete the application
  • Not have outstanding receipts or impact statements from previous EMERGE Funds or from the Bringing Emergency Aid to Mentees (BEAM) Fund
  • Not exceed the $5,000 maximum lifetime limit for emergency funding, except in dire circumstances reviewed on a case-by-case basis, and not exceed the $4,000 maximum lifetime limit for experience funding
Please note that although the NMC seeks to center the experiences for marginalized students who identify as Black/African American, Latino, and Indigenous, we welcome all interested students into our community.

Emergency grant criteria and allowable expenses

To receive emergency grant funding, the financial need must meet the following criteria:

  • The situation is unforeseen and/or sudden
  • The situation impedes the student’s ability to attend school or stay in school
  • The funding will allow the student to continue studies once the acute situation is stable
  • The situation is an (unanticipated) allowable expense 

EMERGE emergency grant funds can be used toward the following allowable expenses:

  • Medical expenses (including dental care and eyeglasses)
  • Sudden moving expenses or change in living expenses (including housing/rent, utilities)
  • Transportation
  • Childcare
  • Schooling costs
  • Food
  • Travel home for family emergency
  • Tuition (if the fee impedes graduation or matriculation)
  • Past due student account balance (if balance prevents enrollment or graduation)
  • Financial loss is associated with an emergency, such as a fire, accident, theft, eviction, etc.
  • Unexpected legal expenses related to maintaining student status and/or securing access to basic needs, such as housing (i.e., landlord dispute, student visa fees etc. )
  • Other expenses not listed here that are deemed emergency expenses

Requesting funding

NMC mentees requesting funding should review the amount limits, contact their mentor, complete and submit the application, along with any applicable supporting documents. The duration of the mentoring relationship is not a factor when reviewing EMERGE applications. Mentors may also submit an additional statement of support to accompany their mentee’s application.

If you have not yet been matched with a mentor and are facing special circumstances, you may still be eligible for funding through EMERGE, at the discretion of NMC staff and the review committee. Please contact the NMC for more information. 

Funding amount limits

There are lifetime funding amount limits for emergency grants. Receiving an experience grant will not impact a mentee’s emergency grant funding limits. For emergency grants, there is a lifetime limit of $5,000, with exceptions for dire emergencies reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Most NMC mentees will request between $1,000 and $2,500 at a time.

Additionally, when requesting funding, please be aware that:

  • EMERGE funds are considered taxable income and may affect your financial aid package. We advise each student to check the impact of their request with your financial aid office.
  • If the cumulative amount distributed to a student is greater than $500, the APS Accounting Department will need to issue you a 1099 tax form, since these are taxable expenses.

The EMERGE Fund application process

Once you complete and submit the application, you will be notified of the committee's decision within 7 to 10 business days. If approved for funding, you should submit payment forms, relevant receipts and

Speak with your NMC mentor

Speak with your NMC mentor about your financial emergency. They may have access to resources that can help alleviate your financial need more quickly. Your NMC mentor may be asked to provide additional information to the EMERGE fund review committee on your behalf, so this is an opportunity to share details with them.

The EMERGE fund review committee is composed of members from the APS Committee on Minorities in Physics and APS staff.

Complete the application

To access the application, please follow these instructions:

  • Select your mentor from the home login screen
  • Select “milestones”
  • At the end of the milestones list, you will see the EMERGE Fund application, which you can then complete

If you have more than one mentor, do not submit the same application multiple times to each mentor.

If you would like to provide any supporting documents, such as bills or emails to be shared with the review committee, please email them as one PDF document to the APS National Mentoring Community team.

Application review and notification

The EMERGE Fund review committee will review your completed application as soon as possible and you will be notified within 7-10 business days of their decision.

Submit payment forms

If your application is approved, you will need to complete and submit payment forms, provided to you by the National Mentoring Community team at APS.

Submit relevant receipts and a brief statement

Thirty days after receiving funds, you will need to provide relevant receipts and submit a brief statement describing how the EMERGE Fund helped you in your situation.

Thank you to our supporters

The EMERGE Fund is made possible, in part, through generous support from Kenton and Amy Brown.