Established in October 2018, the Student Union Mental Health Fund (SUMHF) is jointly administered by the Office for Student Success and Washington University’s Student Union. It was designed to alleviate the financial burden placed on students from low-income backgrounds who would like to access mental health care resources, but cannot individually afford the myriad of associated costs. Taking an all-encompassing approach to mental health, the fund supports students with both direct mental health care costs, as well as indirect costs affiliated with mental health care access.
Eligible students are invited to apply for funding for one semester of services at a time and will be notified of their eligibility within the first week of each semester. The Mental Health Fund is currently able to cover the following costs:
- Co-payments for therapy, counseling, or psychiatry appointments (on-going or emergency)
- Transportation to and from mental health care appointments
- Testing associated with mental health care treatment or diagnosis
- Medication or related material purchases
Students who have costs that fall outside of these categories are still welcome to submit a request and are also invited to reach out directly to ssf@wustl.edu or studentsuccess@wustl.edu.
The application link can be found at the bottom of the “Resources for Student Success Page.” For general inquiries or questions about one’s applications, students should reach out to ssf@wustl.edu or studentsuccess@wustl.edu.
Please also keep in mind:
The Mental Health Fund also works in collaboration with the WashU’s Habif Health and Wellness Center. For students that may be eligible for financial assistance, but are still seeking support in finding mental health care options both on- and off-campus, they should first reach out to the Mental Health Coordinator at Habif for assistance.
For students that receive SUMHF funding during any given Fall semester, you will not be required to complete another application for any continuing costs that you will incur throughout the Spring. Simply look out for an email from the Student Success Fund Coordinator at the beginning of each semester to discuss the continuation of funding, which is not guaranteed across semesters, but may be considered based on available funding. Between academic years, students will be asked to submit new request forms.