Many low-income Northampton Community College students are living paycheck to paycheck, and are at risk for not having a place to live, and suffer from food insecurity. Since 2014, NCC has been helping students stay enrolled through The Spartan Aid Emergency Relief Fund. Spartan Aid provides students with one-time grants to help them make a payment or handle an emergency so they can stay in school.

With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, student need dramatically escalated and the program was expanded beyond help with rent, bus passes, gas cards, and books to include groceries, utility bills, internet access, outstanding tuition, childcare, and more. With skyrocketing inflation the need continues to grow. 

The Spartan Aid Emergency Relief Fund does not come from the College’s budget. Resources are made possible exclusively through gifts made by alumni and friends, student clubs, and generous community members. 

Spartan Aid is part of the Northampton Way. It’s our commitment to do everything possible to help students realize the life-changing benefits of a quality education, to stop poverty cycles and to improve the social fabric of our community by reducing public dependence through personal empowerment. 

Your help is needed. Spartan Aid is another way NCC is helping students gain an education to navigate a better life.