The Office of the Dean of Students has an endowment to fund a no-interest Honor Loan to undergraduate and graduate students in need of emergency financial assistance. The loan, formally entitled the Ivey F. Lewis Honor Loan Endowment, was established in 1939 with the sole purpose of providing short-term aid to University students.
The Loan was implemented by Ivey F. Lewis, the Dean of the University at the time, acting in collaboration with a graduate student named James Wright.
A monetary amount of up to $600 may be awarded to any full-time University student who is in good standing with the University. The student submits an application to be reviewed by the the student Honor Loan Officer and signs a promissory note pledging to pay back the loan without interest within a few months. The process is entirely student-run and facilitated.
Fourth-year Commerce student Shannon Tay serves as the Loan Officer for the Honor Loan this year. He said there are about seven loans given out per month, with an average of about $30,000 disbursed annually.
A total of $14,800 was distributed last spring semester. He said most students use the loans for short-term and academic funds.
“Because this is an emergency loan meant for students who are in immediate need of money for academic purposes, the most common uses are books and daily necessities like groceries,” Tay said in an email. “If they are in a situation where they are unable to get to school because of a faulty car or if an outstanding rent amount is keeping them from concentrating in class, they are eligible for a loan as well”
The loan repayments are due on the last day of the month following the month in which the student received the loan. There is a one-time fee of $10 for loans not paid back within this timeframe, but Tay said this is rarely an issue.
Though the Honor Committee is not directly involved in the handling of Honor Loan disbursements, Vice Chair of Education Joe Martin, a fourth-year College student, said there has been a renewed interest in advertising the existence of the loan to the student body.
“We have in recent months tried to start publicizing [the Honor Loan] more because in the past it hasn’t been well-publicized,” Martin said.
Martin mentioned efforts to incorporate information about the loan in education events and presentations regarding the Honor Committee and the Community of Trust.
Honor Committee Chair Nicholas Hine, a fourth-year College student, said the Honor Loan is a unique resource of the Office of the Dean of Students.
“We certainly recognize it is a benefit of the Community of Trust being able to have this interest-free loan and we hope that students will use it if they know about it,” Hine said.
Anyone interested in the loan can visit the Dean of Students Office in Peabody Hall or can call 434-924-7133 to make an appointment.
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