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Emergency Grocery Card Program

Emergency Grocery Card Program

The Emergency Grocery Card Program has been established by the GSS to provide limited assistance to graduate students in urgent financial need. It is not meant to replace the services offered by the university (including SFU’s bursary program for graduate students), food banks, or long-term remedies for graduate students’ financial needs.

The GSS values its non-judgmental position as the provider of this program; it is understood that graduate students’ needs for accessing this program are numerous and that the items that may be purchased with the grocery card are at the discretion of the student recipient.

Please note that it may take up to one week for a grocery card to be made available.

Please be aware that there is limited funding for this program and that the GSS may not always have grocery cards available. The GSS assumes no responsibility for lost or stolen grocery cards.

Important to note: The GSS reserves the right to reject any application that does not meet the program terms. The GSS also reserves the right to modify this program without notice.

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Click on the button on the right to redirect yourself to the application form.

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Regulations applied to applications received in Fall (starting September 1, 2020)

As of September 1st, new regulations will apply to the EGC program:

  1. The maximum limit (3 for Master’s and 6 for Ph.D.) is applied to all applicants.
  2. As always, the semesterly limit is applied: students cannot apply twice in a semester.
  3. The cards received during Summer 2020 (May 1- Aug 31) do not count towards the above limit.
  4. Each eligible application will be approved for one grocery card only.
Regulations applied to applications received in Summer (before September 1, 2020)

As of May 1st, new regulations will apply to the EGC program:

  1. All students can request a card no matter how many cards they have received so far (the maximum limit (3 for Master’s and 6 for Ph.D.) is lifted for everyone in the Summer semester.) Please keep in mind that the semesterly limit has not been lifted: students cannot apply twice in the summer semester.
  2. All international students will automatically receive 2 cards.
  3. All domestic students can request a second card if they are in financial need and cannot get other sources of help. GAC will adjudicate these requests on a case-by-case basis.

For further assistance, check out this comprehensive list of other local resources: Community Resources. In this document, you will find descriptions and contact info for organizations and services in Metro Vancouver to help with families and children, financial need, food support, legal assistance, and more.