A $24,503 gift from Uma G. Gupta, Ph.D. and her family to the Monroe Community College Foundation has helped to establish the Hunger among College Students in America: The Gupta Family Fund for Students. The fund will provide food vouchers to MCC students with demonstrated financial needs. MCC is the most recent SUNY college to be supported by the program.
Gupta, is a former president of SUNY Alfred who currently heads USAsiaEdu, a company that helps connect universities with Asian students.
According to Gupta, student hunger is an invisible problem. “There are many college students who are affected academically because their basic needs cannot be met. In a land of affluence, for our college kids to go hungry, I don’t think we can relate to it. Sure, they take loans for tuition, but you never imagine they don’t have the resources to sustain themselves.”
Any full-time MCC student with a minimum of 2.5 GPA, a demonstrated financial need, and a referral from the Financial Aid office, a faculty member, or a Student Services counselor is eligible for the program. Counselors in MCC’s Counseling and Advising Center and the Damon City Campus Student Services Center are trained to help students deal with personal challenges and issues such as hunger and economics. Vouchers will range from $50 to a maximum of $250 per month. The program is intended to last three years.
Gupta stresses the financial gift comes from her whole family, including her husband and both sets of parents.
“If there’s anything I am hoping to achieve, it is to bring attention to the problem of student hunger. I hope we can touch students’ lives and help them succeed and hopefully someday they can take care of someone else,” she said.
“That’s the greatest legacy you can hope for.”
Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
09/04/2009 |