FAQ: All about Saxion for Ukraine

What is Saxion for Ukraine?
Saxion for Ukraine is an initiative of about one month in which we as a Saxion community will raise money for our Ukrainian students. With this money they can pay their tuition fees for the coming year. The slogan is therefore Give them one more year. We chose the slogan Saxion for Ukraine, because we hope that the whole of Saxion will come into action. The campaign was set up by SaxNow, Saxion's independent journalistic platform.

How can you contribute?
You can donate via our account number NL59 RABO 0317 2594 15 to Stichting Saxion, stating SaxNow for Ukraine. And we will sell all kinds of stuff for 5 Euros, the amount that is roughly needed per member of the Saxion community.

But what we consider the best option: you can take action yourself! Please let us know at [email protected], so we can include your action our newsoverview and pay attention to it.

It doesn't matter to us how you come into action; we appreciate everything, from small to large. Also the capacity doesn't matter to us; whether you do it as a soccer club, a class, an academy, a program, a service or all by yourself; everything is welcome.

Why is this necessary?
When Putin rolled his tanks across the border in February, the world changed for these students of our university of applied sciences. Since then they have been living in uncertainty: how are things at home, is everyone still healthy? Can I still go back? And also: what does my future look like? But in addition to all these major concerns, there are also very concrete, financial concerns. Like: will I be able to pay the tuition fees for next year? We want to take away those worries with this action.

How much money do we need?
We concentrate the efforts on the current community of Ukrainians at Saxion; at the moment there are 72 students. They have to pay 72 x 2,209 euros in tuition fees next year, which is 159,048 euros. That is a lot of money; but at the same time, the Saxion community numbers about 31,000 people. Looked at this way, it's only a little more than 5 euros per person at Saxion.

And that's what SaxNow does?
Yes and no. Saxnow sets up the action, coordinates and makes sure the money gets to the right place. But above all we give a lot of attention to the initiatives of the Saxion community. And of course we set up some actions ourselves, but our capacity to act is limited.

So how are we going to get all that money together?
We need a large sum, but we think it is doable. Suppose that everyone at Saxion, student and employee, donates about five euros, then we are already there. But this campaign does not focus only on donations. The idea is to bring this money together as a community. So we hope that you will do it, as a community of Saxion. Together for the Ukrainian students of our school, to make their lives a little easier in wartime. That is the idea. We have already started to gather as much support as possible; the Executive Board, for example, supports our action. We hope that you, students, staff will do the same.

So we're all going to get it done?
Yes. But we are also appealing to the business sector surrounding Saxion. They have already shown that they are involved with the Ukrainian students. For example, by offering jobs. We think and hope that we can get companies to support our goal as well.

How long will the action last?
We are fully aware that the action is short notice, because there is not a lot happening at Saxion during the summer break. So the action runs roughly until the end of this academic year, from now until the final party in the 1st or 2nd week of July.

Ok, and further, what can I expect?
We are going to make our action as visible as possible. With stories, at Saxion you will see us, on social media and the internet. We also want to organize some actions ourselves. And of course there has to be a final meeting. This will take place shortly before the end of the academic year, in the first half of July. There we will announce the results (did we succeed?) and hand over the money. And we will pay attention to the donors, the initiators and everyone who helped.

Isn't there already a lot going on for Ukrainians?Certainly. The Netherlands is very involved. Accommodation is being arranged, people are making donations to Giro 555. But this is - we think - a different story. This is about our community, our family. We would like to help these young adults, with an acute problem.

But wait a minute, what about (White) Russian students. Or students from other conflict zones? Aren't we/you doing anything for them?
The simple answer: no, not at the moment. Russian and Belarus students are just as much victims of the situation, we agree. But we want to do this benefit very specifically for the students from a country that is a victim of an aggressor. We follow government policy, which imposes sanctions on Russia. But we absolutely do not condemn the Russians and the Russian students. Our hearts go out to them as well. But for this benefit, we chose the students from the country under attack. The same goes for students from other conflict zones. In an ideal world, we would support everyone.

That number of 72 students, what is that based on?
72 is the current number of Ukrainian Saxion students. There could be more or less next year. We have chosen to raise money for this group of students now.

The money you raise, is it earmarked? Do the students have to use it for their studies?
No. It is a symbolic amount that we are raising for the Ukrainian students at Saxion. We are not going to police how they spend the money. They can use it for their tuition fees, but they can also send it to their families, for example. What is certain is that all the money goes to the students, not to expenses of, for example, SaxNow or other parties we work with.