If you’ve ever been in a position where you couldn’t afford to cover your basic needs or felt like you were all alone with your financial concerns and fears with no one to turn to, let me introduce you to Pack Essentials, an initiative aimed at NC State students who are experiencing food, housing, financial or educational insecurity.

Assistant Vice Chancellor and Student Ombuds Mike Giancola and his team at Pack Essentials create a safe space for students, listen to their concerns and make the burden on their shoulders a little lighter.

Susana Mateos, a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Natural Resources, opened up about the financial struggles that keep her up at night and how NC State has provided a valuable support system to aid with her situation.

“I have four part time jobs in addition to my Ph.D. fellowship funding,” Mateos said. “And there have been times when I haven’t gone grocery shopping for three weeks because I didn’t have enough money.”

Even in moments when I was struggling, I’ve always had my parents who would step in and provide a safety net to fall back on. Giancola said he wants Pack Essentials to serve as a safety net for students who can’t rely on their family to support them.

“There’s no value in any student struggling with knowing where their next meal is coming from, or having access to healthy food or culturally appropriate food,” Giancola said. “And there’s certainly no value in students struggling to think that they can pay their rent or have a safe place to live.”

Pursuing higher education at a college or university is already very challenging. If, on top of that, you are constantly worrying about having enough money to pay for food, rent or other expenses, the exciting college experience can quickly turn into a nightmare.

I hadn’t heard of the Pack Essentials initiative until a couple of weeks ago, and I’m not the only one lacking awareness of the resources provided by the Division of Student Ombud Services.

Jennifer Campbell, a third-year student at the Community College Leadership Doctoral program, said she didn’t know about the initiative until she was told about it by one of her cohort members.

“There needs to be more advertisement,” Mateos said. “And maybe, having a grad student worker go to classes and give a little presentation would raise awareness of these services.”

Asking for help can be daunting, especially in the U.S. where relying on other people financially is frowned upon. Mateos said it took her a lot of courage and strength to overcome this stigma and to reach out to Pack Essentials for help.

“In this country, you’re taught to be this independent human,” Mateos said. “You’re supposed to not ask for help and pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”

Gaincola said he wants students to know he’ll always have an open ear and door for those who are going through a difficult time.

“We want students to know we will provide help with dignity and without judgment,” Giancola said. “If they reach out for help, they don’t have to worry about us judging them or increasing a stigma that they may already have about using resources. We want to remove those barriers so students can be successful.”

Reaching out to Giancola and the rest of the Student Ombud Services team is quick and simple. There’s a “Pack Essentials Application” link on their website to their application form and they aim to respond within 24 hours after receiving a request.

Meghan Larson, a second-year studying middle grades language arts and social studies, said the application process was fast and accessible.

“I just went on the MyPack portal and filled out the form,” Larson said. “It took me, like, maybe three minutes, and then they called me back within the hour and told me I got the money.”

Giancola said this level of responsiveness is important.

“If a student reaches out and says they’re struggling, that their water might be turned off, or they’re at risk of being evicted and we reach back out to them three, four days later, that’s not showing a level of responsiveness that’s needed for that situation,” Giancola said.

The type of financial aid you are eligible for is highly dependent on your unique situation, but there are a number of tools everybody should know about.

“There’s often uniqueness to students’ experiences, and so our staff works hard to do an individual assessment with each student,” Giancola said.

The Feed the Pack Food Pantry provides food, household and hygiene items, not only for NC State students but also for faculty and staff members.

Students who are grappling with housing insecurity can benefit from and different grants, funds and loans including the Student Emergency Fund.

For the full range of resources, Giancola encourages students to take a closer look at their website.

Giancola said in August and September this year, the Pack Essentials initiative has helped 2,600 students and he expects the numbers to increase in the future due to inflation and increasing rent prices.

Accumulating the financial means needed to support students in these difficult times is challenging. But fortunately, NC State works with a large community in Raleigh that supports students experiencing housing or food insecurity.

“The University and other community members partnered to create a nonprofit called ‘Housing Options for Students Today’, short ‘HOST,’” Giancola said. “This is an important tool that we still need to grow and it includes members of the greater Raleigh community agreeing to open up their home for students to live with them for as short as a week or upwards to a semester. And the students live rent free.”

I would love to see this community grow so more students realize they are not alone in this, that there is somebody who cares about their concerns and fears, and there is no shame in asking for help. There are challenges in life we cannot tackle on our own, and we are powerless in the face of rising housing costs and prices of grocery products.

Rather than judging each other, I believe we should support each other both financially and emotionally.