Victim Support Fund
The Victim Support Fund provides assistance directly related to the impact of a traumatic, disturbing, or life disruptive event*. Any assistance can be requested and the applicant must demonstrate how the expense is directly related to impact from the traumatic incident. Financial assistance can be used towards personal property, bills/expenses, housing, legal fees, and more.
Eligibility
To be eligible for assistance, applicants must:
- Be a CU Boulder affiliate (student, staff or faculty) or has been within the last 6 months.
- Be currently working with an advocate from CU Boulder’s Office of Victim Assistance (OVA) and the request must be directly related to the impact of a traumatic, disturbing, or life disruptive event. An OVA advocate must sign the application and submit it for review to OVA leadership.
- These funds cannot cover items/expenses that have already been covered or can be covered by insurance (health, car, renter’s/homeowner’s, etc.) and/or any other on- or off-campus emergency or victim funds (ex. Victim’s Compensation).
- Apply once per incident.
- When the incident occurred does not apply as long as the applicant can make a direct connection to how the incident has created a financial hardship/need.
- No on-going funding is available, one-time payment only.
*This small fund is not designed to help after large local incidents where many people are impacted, i.e. Boulder County fires, local incidents of mass violence and/or natural disasters-CU Boulder may have larger funds on a case-by-case basis typically able to assist in these types of situations. For a local large disasters impacting many people in our community students contact: deanofstudents@colorado.edu and employees visit:
Fund Dispersal
- Applications will be reviewed within 3-4 weeks of application submission, probably sooner, and decisions will be shared via email.
- Timeline for student reimbursement once approved by OVA leadership:
- Financial Aid will disperse the funds. Once funding is dispersed, please allow for 4-6 business days before it’s applied to the student’s university account and refunded to one’s bank account.
- OVA will not share any information with Financial Aid about the reason for the funding request.
- This funding could impact a student’s financial aid, so students should work with their advocate and/or follow up directly with the Financial Aid office: finaid_isaf@colorado.edu.
- Timeline for faculty and staff reimbursement once approved by OVA leadership:
- Funds will be dispersed through CU Human Resources (HR) representative who will be given applicant name and employee ID.
- OVA will not share any information with HR about the reason for the funding request.
- The payout to employee will be taxable and timing on disbursement can depend, typically 1-2 weeks. Fund distributed to the same account employee receives their paycheck.
Types of Assistance
This is not an exhaustive list, but represents examples of types of possible assistance. Any assistance can be requested, but the applicant must demonstrate how the expense is directly related to impact from the traumatic incident.
- Replaceable items taken as evidence in an ongoing criminal case
- Other replaceable items lost or damaged
- Cable, internet
- Cell phone bills
- Vehicle-related expenses (car insurance, impound fees, damage)
- School-related expenses (lost or damaged books, electronics, etc.)
- Security deposit
- Rent
- Moving expenses
- Damage to housing
- Attorney fees
- Filing fees
How to Apply
CU Boulder affiliates can only apply/receive an application through working with a CU Boulder OVA advocate.
Please contact OVA to set up an appointment with an OVA advocate counselor to discuss this fund. If you are already connected to OVA, talk to the advocate you are working with to receive an application.
Main Number: (303) 492-8855
Email: assist@colorado.edu
Check out this story from March 2024 about various funds on campus, it specificly highlights OVA's Victim Support Fund.