Bunker Hill Community College Emergency Assistance Fund Boosts Student Retention

BOSTON, Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Student Emergency Assistance
Fund established by Bunker Hill Community College has resulted in a retention
rate 15 percent higher than the College as a whole. BHCC President Mary L.
Fifield established the program in January 2009 to ensure that the weak
economy did not force students to drop out of school. From January through
June 2009, the fund from the College's budget and supplemented by the MetLife
Foundation, made grants totaling $63,000 to 87 students. Due to its success,
the College has increased the amount available to $137,000 for the current
2009-2010 academic year, with additional support from the Student Government
Association and College Foundation.

"The weak economy has hit our students hard. Sometimes an MBTA pass is the
difference between going to school or not," said Fifield. "This fund is for
students who planned their educational finances prior to the academic year and
then during the time of their enrollment are confronted with an emergency or
unanticipated event that could cause them to drop out of College."

Students may receive up to $1,000. They apply though the College Financial Aid
Office, which makes decisions and distributes the funds within three business
days of the application. Grants given so far have included $75 to replace a
lost monthly MBTA pass, $428 to replace books and supplies in a stolen book
bag and $700 for car repairs for a student with disabilities. Another $1,000
grant covered payments for cancer treatment.

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in
Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 10,800 students on two campuses
and at five satellite locations each semester. More than 1,500 students take
classes online. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher
education in the Commonwealth. Six in ten students are people of color and
more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls more
than 690 international students who come from more than 95 countries and speak
75 different languages.

SOURCE Bunker Hill Community College

Colleen Roach, Executive Director of Communications & Marketing, Bunker Hill
Community College, +1-617-228-2177, caroach@bhcc.mass.edu