Service and Collaboration: Student Financial Services responds to student needs

On March 11, UVA announced that students would not return to Grounds after spring break as part of the University’s overall efforts to quell the spread of Coronavirus. That change, along with a host of other repercussions generated by the pandemic, put many students in difficult, unexpected circumstances.

From the financial difficulties of traveling home, to the need to hastily assemble the tech required to take classes online, to the unanticipated need to pay for rent, food, and other basic necessities while they or their families were suddenly unemployed, the needs were many and widespread.

Even before it became official that students would not be returning to Grounds this spring and that the fallout from the Coronavirus was going to be considerable, Student Financial Services sprang into action.

The team immediately arranged a process to award money to meet students’ most pressing needs. Their priority at first was providing students with funds to get home and to ensure they had the technology required to continue their instruction online.

Assistant Vice President for Student Financial Services Steve Kimata is quick to point out that SFS was not alone in its relief efforts. The President’s Office and the Information Technology department worked with SFS to coordinate providing laptops and Wi-Fi access to students. Another group from Student Affairs joined in to help provide relief related to the cost of living, providing money for food or rent.

“We assisted with lots of technology requests,” says Sarah Doran of SFS.

“There were many students who were previously relying on computer labs or using an old laptop that wouldn’t support Zoom, or who live in a place without good Wi-Fi and needed a hotspot, or money for more data,” she says.

Doran also recounts assisting students who were studying abroad get home, arranging relief with medical expenses, providing funds for groceries, and even steering students toward appropriate resources to help them apply for unemployment when necessary.

By the time the Federal Government passed the CARES Act’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) in late March, SFS had already awarded approximately $400,000 to around 800 students in need.

The federal funds provided to UVA by HEERF (some $5.8 million) allowed SFS to expand its efforts to help students affected by the pandemic. As that funding began to roll in, SFS reworked its intake process and partnered with Student Affairs to stand up an improved application process using the University’s existing scholarship management tool. Student Affairs committed nearly a dozen staff members to review applications for aid.

As of June 12, UVA has awarded $1.95 million in combined UVA and HEERF funds to approximately 2,000 students, counting those who were helped before the CARES act and those who don’t qualify for CARES that need help anyway.

As Doran notes, to qualify for federal money, students were required to be eligible for federal financial aid (usually in the form of having a current FAFSA on file). For the students who had not completed a FAFSA and who found themselves in a worsened financial position due to the impact of the Coronavirus, this presented a barrier; however, the University has been able to assist those students with University funds.

Although the spring semester has wrapped up, student needs continue to roll in. SFS and Student Affairs will continue awarding federal and University funds to students enrolled in the summer session and those who are looking ahead to fall.

“We’re already starting to see fall technology requests,” says Doran, adding that SFS and its partners across Grounds are here and ready to assist.