The closing of the Keene State College campus due to COVID-19 meant many unused dorm rooms, dining hall swipes and parking spots for much of the student body. Because of this, the college has issued cost adjustments, or refunds, to students and families.
These refunds include on-campus housing charges, meal plans and any unused meal plan dollars, and mandatory fees including athletic fees, recreation fees, student activity fees, Student Center fees and parking decal fees. Students should be able to see those adjustments in their QuikPay account now, according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Susan LaPanne.
“The adjustments have been made to the bills so students should be able to see the effect of those ‘refunds’ now,” LaPanne said. “If there was a balance due, however, these cost adjustments will be applied to those balances.”
On Tuesday, April 14, an email was sent out to all KSC students with information regarding the refunds. Attached to this email was a list of frequently asked questions. Anyone with questions or concerns about what they see in their account should refer to that email and attachment first and see if their question is answered there.
According to KSC President Melinda Treadwell, the cost of distributing these cost adjustments is fully on the college to cover.
“The refunds we’re going to cover ourselves. We were intending to use the stimulus to offset the cost of the refunds, but the federal law does not allow that,” Treadwell said. “So we are not doing that. Now we’re working on discount packages that we’re honoring, things that students are asking for and also the tech investments that we’re needing to do.”
According to LaPanne, the total cost of the refunds to the students from KSC is approximately $6.5 million, which is a reduction in revenue directly to the college’s financial statements. KSC will be receiving a federal stimulus package to offset costs relating to disruptions caused by COVID-19, but none of that funding is to be used for the cost adjustments to students.
“The federal stimulus fund allocation to KSC is $2.997 million. Half of that is the stimulus funding. The other half goes to the college to support the change in the operations based on COVID-19. It is supposed to cover the expenses of changing the delivery of the curriculum because of the pandemic. However, the revenue losses to the institutions are not covered,” LaPanne said. “The stimulus amounts for student supports is a separate matter. The CARES Act provides for student financial support in the higher ed portion of the bill. However, the terms and requirements are very ambiguous. We are meeting with our legal and external relations folks to try to figure out what that means.”
More information on The CARES Act can be found in the U.S. Department of the Treasury website. Treadwell said the college is looking into ways of how to use the stimulus fund to best serve the students.
“The stimulus dollars are directly to help support students who might have financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak,” Treadwell said. “We are working now to try to identify if there are financial aid burdens and issues that students are experiencing and we’re looking for more clarification within the federal law of what we can do with the stimulus dollars that are coming our way. Certainly technology and supports for students around ways to access learning are things that we’re hoping we can invest in from those dollars.”
Students or family members whose questions cannot be answered by the FAQ page that was emailed out earlier this month can contact the Student Accounts Office at studentaccounts@keene.edu or 800-572-1909.
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