Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
Welcome
The Jack Canfield Student Medical Emergency Relief Fund (SMERF) provides grants to students with expenses related to medical, dental, psychological, and optical emergencies.
For the purpose of this fund, a medical emergency is a condition, injury, or illness that poses a risk to a person’s life, long-term health, or well-being and requires timely intervention. Prescriptions or medical care costs related to on-going, non-emergency conditions are NOT covered.
SPRING 2023 UPDATE
At this time, the SMERF Committee has reached the funding limits for Medical, Dental, and Optical expenses. We will, unfortunately, not be able to review applications of these kind for the time being.
Students with UCSHIP insurance and medical expenses exceeding $500 are encouraged to explore the Campus Medical Care Assistance Fund.
Students with Mental Health related expenses who are wishing to apply for the Equity in Mental Health Emergency Grant, can still fill out the SMERF Application for consideration.
Equity in Mental Health Fund (EMH) for Students with Financial Need
Students are encouraged to complete a SMERF application to be considered for the Equity in Mental Health Assistance grant. The EMH was provided by the State of California to help University of California address the mental health needs of students. The EMH fund at UCSB is specifically intended to address the financial barriers which prevent students from accessing mental health resources. Some examples of costs associated with Mental Health include assessment & testing, medications, & co-pays that are not already covered by insurance. Other expenses related to accessing needed mental health services & supports may be considered. If you would like to be considered for this fund source in particular, please indicate "Mental Health" on the SMERF application under Type of Emergency.
Please note that on-going co-pay expenses may have some limits, but we encourage you to state your needs and we will do what we can to help address the need.
We are located in the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
Student Affairs/Administrative Services Building (SAASB)
University of California
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3025
You can visit the UCSB Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship website here:https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/
Please direct all inquiries to the Financial Crisis Response Team email at financialcrisis@sa.ucsb.edu