SCU Alumni Offer Students with Financial Aids amid Pandemic

Nearly 100 Soochow alumni from all walks of life donated millions of dollars to help SCU students with financial issues overcome the difficult time during the COVID-19 outbreak. This financial aid project titled “Helping Hands to Students” has raised large amounts of funds and benefited numerous pupils for about 16 years.

This year’s philanthropic alumni include: Clark Chen, the chairman of the Alumni Association of Department of Accounting; Zhong-Xian Liu, the former chairman of the Ruentex Group; Wen-Zhong Yeh; Shu-Mei Zhang; Jie-Zhen Li, the chairman of the Alumni Association in Macau, and many others who all contributed to help students weather the crisis.

As the coronavirus pandemic hit the global economy, many industries have been suffering from a recession, and companies have adopted measures such as unpaid leaves, salary cuts or layoffs in response. This has subsequently affected many students due to their parents’ unemployment and a sharp decline in family income, as well as their own reduced wages from part-time jobs.

Every year Soochow allocates at least 5% of the tuition fees for the use of school-wide scholarships and financial aids to encourage outstanding students in studying and relieve students’ financial pressure. In the 2019-20 academic year, a total of more than NT$70 million was used for such purposes, but it was not enough as the economy was hit hard.

As an additional source of financial assistance, the “Helping Hands to Students” project has been supported since 2004 by numerous Soochow alumni, faculty and staff whose continuous donations have helped many students troubled by financial issues. Each grantee can receive NT$5,000 to 10,000 each time for emergency relief.