One network, many resources
Porter Cares is the name for the coordinated set of supports for students facing a basic-needs gap — food, stable housing, an unexpected expense, a health crisis, or a semester-derailing emergency. Rather than making a student in a hard week find eight different offices, one referral routes to all of them and a case manager follows up.
Food
The campus food pantry is open to any enrolled student, no documentation, no means test — walk in and take what you need. Swipe Out Hunger provides meal-plan swipes for students without a plan or between refunds. A dining dietitian and SNAP application help are also available.
Housing
For a student facing homelessness or the sudden loss of housing, short-term emergency housing on campus can bridge a few nights while a case manager works on a stable option. Break housing lets students who cannot go elsewhere stay in the halls during closures.
Money
The student emergency fund makes small grants (not loans) for urgent costs — a car repair that threatens your commute, a utility shutoff, travel for a family death, a medical bill. The emergency loan fund covers larger short-term gaps. Both are designed to turn around in days, not weeks.
Health
Counseling is included in fees, with same-day urgent consults and a 24-hour line at (715) 555–0117. Student health handles illness and injury; the campus pharmacy fills prescriptions. Gender-affirming care referrals, sexual health services, and recovery-community support are all part of the network.
How to start
Submit a Porter Cares referral online — for yourself or, with their knowledge, for a friend — or walk into the Dean of Students office in Founders Union. A case manager contacts you within a business day, sooner if it is urgent. You control what gets shared and with whom.
This is normal
A large share of students use at least one of these at some point. Needing the pantry or an emergency grant is not a failure or a secret; the resources exist because the need is common. The students who struggle most are the ones who wait until a small gap becomes a withdrawal.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every office, person, building, phone number and statistic on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real institution or a service you can actually contact.