Update regarding COVID-19 from President Houston Davis to students, faculty, and staff
As we enter the final days of classes, I want to share a few very important updates with you regarding how we are working to assist students with room and board reimbursements and scholarship renewals.
Thank you for your patience as we finalize the process by which we are issuing account credits for student housing and meal plans. The first wave of housing credits will begin at the end of this week, and meal plan credits will begin at the end of next week. We want to assure all of our students who are due a credit that we will be getting those to you as soon as your account is reconciled through the Office of Housing and Residence Life. If the housing or meal plan reimbursements create a positive balance on your account, those excess funds will be issued as a refund via electronic transfer (for those that have that information on file) or as a paper check for all others. Any questions related to the credits and refunds should be directed to the Office of Housing and Residence Life.
With the move to online-only instruction, there has been some concern from students about how the new learning environment could possibly impact GPAs and, therefore, scholarship renewals. Recently, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) waived both the GPA and minimum hour requirements for state-funded scholarships. UCA will follow a similar policy for its university scholarships:
- All spring scholarship recipients who were enrolled in the number of hours required by their scholarship as of March 20 will maintain their scholarship in the fall, regardless if they later dropped below that number of hours.
- In addition, as long as scholarship recipients were enrolled in the number of hours required by their scholarships as of March 20, their GPA will not be held against them for scholarship renewal.
- If a student did drop below the required hours prior to March 20, the Office of Student Financial Aid is in the process of calculating what that means for each student.
- Once that process is complete, they will notify students to allow them time to determine if they need to attend summer school for the potential to renew their scholarship.
For those students concerned about their GPA or number of hours falling below a required level, I hope this eases some of the anxiety around scholarship eligibility.
Look for more information in the next couple of days regarding summer school and how the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will benefit our students and university.
I want to thank you again for your perseverance and patience during this unprecedented time. I understand that this semester has not looked like any of us expected, but you all have not only adapted, but thrived. Your commitment to excellence makes me incredibly proud to serve this university and student body.