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“My husband lost his job. It was a devastating loss as he is the breadwinner in our family so that I can attend law school and take care of our one-year old son. Through your very generous donation, we were able to pay our rent, utilities, and have a little money left over to get me back and forth to school. It took a huge stress off of me as I am in the midst of studying for my 1L finals.” – An IU McKinney Law student and Emergency Fund recipient

A house fire. Unexpected medical expenses. A laptop—critical for taking final exams and bar exam preparation—crashes.

For some people, such events are disruptive, inconvenient, and expensive. For some IU McKinney students, they are financial disasters that can derail law school graduation and a promising career.

The McKinney School of Law Financial Emergency Fund was established in 2012 through generous philanthropic support and is used to aid students who encounter financial emergencies. It’s a fund that David Boodt, ’90 and Julie Boodt, ’90, urged the school to create, although they don’t take credit for the idea.  

“Like any good idea, I stole it,” says David Boodt, a member of the IU McKinney School of Law Board of Visitors. As former vice president and general counsel at United Student Aid Funds, Inc., Boodt worked with a scholarship company that helped other institutions set up similar emergency scholarships.

 “Such emergency scholarship funds take a fairly regimented and slow financial aid process and soften it,” Boodt explains. “It recognizes that situations change, things come up, and the big financial aid system can’t adapt to it. Student emergency funds help prevent the cascading effect of one bad thing, and allows students to take care of the problem before it escalates.”

“This award has allowed me to complete emergency repairs to my vehicle so that I may continue pursuing my law degree while supporting my family.” – An IU McKinney Law student and Emergency Fund recipient

To qualify for emergency aid from the fund, students must be in good academic standing and complete an online application. They must have exhausted other sources of emergency assistance, such as financial aid and family resources, and demonstrated that the financial need is a one-time, unexpected expense rather than a chronic financial need. But beyond a few guidelines, IU McKinney Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Johnny Pryor has discretion in awarding emergency funds.

The awards are usually for modest amounts, but the ripple effect can be huge, Boodt notes. 

“The Financial Emergency Fund humanizes the law school, and it tells students that someone—donors to the fund—thought about them and cared enough to put some money in the kitty to help them when they needed it,” he says. 

“Thank you so much for funding this generous emergency fund. It has certainly brought me some peace among chaos, and I feel blessed to attend a school that truly cares about its students.” –An IU McKinney Law student and Emergency Fund recipient

“I cannot say thank you enough times to express my full gratitude, but again, thank you for donating to the McKinney emergency fund. I look forward to the day I am able to follow your lead and donate to this fund to help a student like myself.” –An IU McKinney Law student and Emergency Fund recipient