Emergency Aid in Action: How Achieve Atlanta & Scholarship America Helped 2,000+ Students Stay Enrolled

Every year, 3 million students drop out due to financial barriers – often for needs that could be resolved with less than $1,000 in aid. Emergency aid helps students stay enrolled and on track to graduate. 

At Achieve Atlanta, a nonprofit supporting Atlanta Public Schools graduates in college, emergency aid started as a small pilot program. When COVID-19 hit, the program scaled rapidly – ultimately providing support to over 2,000 students facing sudden financial crises. 

The Challenge: Scholarships Weren’t Enough – Students Needed Emergency Aid to Stay in School 

Achieve Atlanta’s mission is to help graduates of Atlanta Public Schools earn a college degree. But even with scholarships, many students faced sudden, unexpected financial hurdles that put their education at risk. 

Common emergency needs included: 

• Housing costs (rent, utilities) 

• Medical bills and unexpected expenses 

• Transportation and technology needs
  

Without a fast, efficient system for delivering emergency aid, many students struggled to stay enrolled when faced with these financial shocks. 

The Solution: A Rapid-Response Emergency Aid Model That Scaled in a Crisis 

In 2019, Achieve Atlanta partnered with Scholarship America to launch a pilot emergency aid program – designed to provide fast, targeted support when students needed it most. 

The program was built on three core principles: 

• Clarity – A clear, accessible process ensured students knew what emergency aid covered and how to apply. 

• Efficiency – A mobile-friendly application and electronic payments streamlined approval and distribution. 

• Proactive Outreach – Text and email campaigns ensured students knew aid was available before a crisis forced them to drop out.
  

The initial pilot launched in early 2020, awarding nearly $10,000 in emergency grants. Around 60% of aid requests were for housing-related needs. 

The Impact: Scaling to Help 2,000+ Students During COVID-19 

When COVID-19 shut down campuses and disrupted students’ lives, Achieve Atlanta and Scholarship America scaled the program rapidly to meet the surge in need.   

• Phase 1: Immediate grants helped students cover moving costs, housing, and travel expenses as campuses closed. 

• Phase 2: A second wave of aid covered laptops, Wi-Fi, and other technology for online coursework. 

• Between March and June 2020, over one-third of eligible Achieve Atlanta Scholars applied for emergency aid, and the program awarded over $190,000 in critical support. 

Thanks to a streamlined application and rapid disbursement process, students received aid quickly – allowing them to focus on school instead of financial stress. 

The Next Steps: Strengthening Emergency Aid for the Future 

COVID-19 proved that emergency aid is a critical student success tool. Moving forward, Achieve Atlanta and Scholarship America are refining and expanding their approach to ensure that aid reaches students faster and that emergency aid programs remain sustainable beyond crisis situations. 

With the right systems in place, emergency aid can scale effectively, remove financial barriers, and keep more students on track to graduate. 

At Scholarship America, this is How We Think About Emergency Aid 

For nearly 20 years, Scholarship America has partnered with colleges and organizations to provide life-changing emergency financial assistance – ensuring students stay enrolled when unexpected costs threaten their education. 

A small intervention can prevent a major crisis, whether it’s a $300 license fee that allows a student to secure employment or a $500 grant that prevents eviction. 

Watch our video, One Scholarship Away, to meet four students whose college and career dreams nearly ended due to sudden financial crises. Thanks to emergency aid, they stayed on track to graduate.

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