Apply for Undergraduate Emergency Aid

Confirm your expense falls within the term dates

Confirm your expense is eligible

Medical or Mental Health Copayments or Prescriptions

• Medical or Mental Health Copayments for office visits
  • In-network and covered by insurance.
  • Assistance is not available for missed or cancelled appointments.
• Prescriptions or medications
  • Over the counter medications are not eligible for assistance. All other medications must be covered by either insurance or a prescription discount card.

Emergency Aid

• Medical Emergency Expenses
  • Office visits, ambulance, emergency room, hospital expenses after insurance has applied.
  • Large expenses will require applications to request financial assistance through the care provider before the emergency aid request can be reviewed. Documentation of the request and result will be required. For convenience, assistance programs for two of the larger hospital systems that serve Northwestern students are listed below. 
    • Endeavor Health (Evanston and Skokie Hospital): https://www.endeavorhealth.org/patients-visitors/billing-insurance/financial-assistance
    • Northwestern Medicine: https://www.endeavorhealth.org/patients-visitors/billing-insurance/financial-assistance
• Alcohol and other drug treatment
• Testing for disabilities after insurance has been applied
• Emergency Vision
• Dental
  • Contact Associate Director of Financial Aid John Richmond at john.richmond@northwestern.edu prior to having any dental procedures completed. 
• Long-term psychological Support
• Emergency Travel due to the death of a parent or sibling
• Conference Travel
  • Students must also apply for and receive Conference Travel Grant assistance from the Office of Undergraduate Research to be eligible for assistance..
• Special housing accommodation due to an emergency or medical condition
• Additional food costs, such as field studies, or dietary restrictions due to a medical condition.
• Safety/security costs
• Laptop repair or prorated replacement
  • If you have previously received emergency aid for this type of expense, or received start-up assistance during your first term, you are not eligible for additional institutional assistance for the remainder of your undergraduate enrollment.

Submit the emergency aid form for your expense

Medical or Mental Health Copayments or Prescriptions

MEDICAL COPAYMENTS OR PRESCRIPTIONS FORM 2026-27

Emergency Aid

EMERGENCY AID FORM 2026-27

Monitor your email

Emergency aid applications are reviewed 1 to 2 weeks after submission. If all documents are provided, your request will be completed.

If your request is approved:

If all requirements are met, we will award emergency aid funding for all or a portion of your request based on University policies. Emergency aid automatically refunds to the direct deposit account on file in CAESAR and will bypass any refund holds. You will also receive an approval notification from undergradaid@u.northwestern.edu after the funding has been added.

If your request is not approved:

Our office will contact you via your University email address with more information for why the request was not approved.

If more information is needed:

Check your Northwestern email regularly for communication from our office. If additional information is needed we will contact you directly via email. Failure to respond to these emails in a timely manner may mean that we are not able to provide assistance for your request.