At GW, we aim to create a community that cares for each other. The CARE Team fosters this goal by creating a pathway through which students who may need additional support can be identified and referred to the most appropriate services. Through the CARE Team, students are given the support they need to persist and succeed at GW and beyond.
Students, parents, faculty, and staff can identify students that may need additional support through the CARE Team’s online form. The CARE Team is a cross-departmental support system that recognizes that student concerns are often multi-faceted. Students are connected to resources through inter-departmental collaboration to provide them with appropriate and personalized outreach.
Academic indicators include:
Sudden decline in quality of work or grades
Repeated absences
Multiple requests for extensions on assignments
Overly demanding of faculty and staff time and attention
Disturbing content in writing or presentation (i.e. violence, death, etc.)
Continuous classroom disruptions
Physical indicators include:
Marked changes in physical appearance, including deterioration in grooming, hygiene, or weight change
Excessive fatigue/sleep disturbance
Intoxication, hangovers, or smelling of alcohol
Disoriented or “out of it”
Garbled, tangential, disconnected, or slurred speech
Behavior is out of context or bizarre
Psychological indicators include:
Self-disclosure of personal distress such as family problems, financial difficulties, grief, or relationship issues
Unusual/disproportionate emotional response to events
Excessive tearfulness or panic reactions
Irritability or unusual apathy
Verbal abuse (i.e. taunting, badgering, intimidation)
Expression of concern about the student by their peers
Delusions and paranoia
CARE referrals can be submitted anonymously; individuals who are submitting the report are not required to provide their information.
Yes. CARE Referrals can be submitted for any student (graduate or undergraduate) at GW.
The CARE Team is exclusively for current GW students. If you have a concern about the behavior of a GW staff or faculty member, please email [email protected].
The CARE Team can be reached at [email protected] or 202-994-6555.
Reports are monitored Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00 am and 6:00 pm. If a report requires immediate outreach or follow-up or is an emergency please contact GWPD at 202-994-6111.
The program administrators that lead the CARE Team are also currently managing the GW Cares Student Assistance Fund, a donor-supported fund launched in March 2020 to support students who are in immediate need of temporary, short-term, financial assistance to help cover unanticipated essential expenses that have occurred as a result of the pandemic.
Through a separate federal government program, GW has been allocated approximately $9.1 million from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). Please note: The federal government CARES Act program is not related to the GW Cares Student Assistance Fund.
The GW Cares Student Assistance fund was created to support students who are in immediate need of temporary, short-term, financial assistance to cover essential expenses due to an emergency. Funding is available to students who meet the following criteria:
Examples of expenses that may be covered (non-exhaustive):
Awards typically range between $500 and $1,000.
The GW Cares Student Assistance Fund is spent at the discretion of the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. The award process outlined above is facilitated by staff designated by the Vice President and Dean. Each application is reviewed individually by designated staff with urgency toward time-sensitive student needs. The Office of Student Financial Assistance is consulted to verify prioritization of greatest student need.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more, feel free to contact [email protected]
