Social science faculty rep launches grant for students in need
Published:Saturday | March 5, 2022 | 12:08 AMDavid Salmon/Gleaner Writer
This month, students of the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) at The University of the West Indies will be able to apply for financial assistance from the FSS Guild Committee. Spearheaded by social sciences representative, Omolora Wilson, the Tiger Tuition Acceptance Grant aims to support students who face the imminent risk of being deregistered for non-payment of school fees.
“Last year during the exam period, a lot of students from the faculty got barred from doing their exams… Thus, I saw it as a need to ensure that students won’t end up in the same situation this semester again,” Wilson told The Gleaner.
An estimated 200 students from the faculty are believed to have been deregistered due to non-payment of school fees last year. Wilson shared that she has successfully lobbied for students who had a financial block last semester to be registered as absent instead of facing a penalty. This allows them to sit their final exams this year.
However, she explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had emphasised the need to provide additional support for students as many were still reeling from the fallout. “As faculty of social sciences representative, one of the manifesto points that I want to do was to improve the social science representative grant … . We want to do way more and want to incorporate data plans,” added Wilson.
So far, $500,000 has been raised for the grant, with the committee aiming to reach its target of $1 million by the end of the semester. An additional sum has been set aside to purchase electronic devices for students.
She elaborated that this is just one of a range of activities being finalised ahead of the Faculty of Social Sciences Week, which will begin on March 20. During this week, the guild representative aims to conduct additional fundraising for the grant and implement projects geared towards student development.
“We have our sale of memorabilia which will also go towards students’ tuition or wherever we can assist them… Other initiatives that we have is our social sciences study sessions coming up, and in addition to that, we have our scholarship and sponsorship session coming up,” Wilson said.
To access an application form or learn more about upcoming projects, visit the Faculty of Social Sciences’ Instagram page, @uwimona_fss or the website at www.mona.uwi.edu/socsci/ .