School Closed For COVID? Demand A Refund

As lockdown orders rolled out, students who had to leave campuses and relocate are facing an entirely new and unexpected financial reality. If you’re one of the many students facing this problem, here’s how you can demand a refund on certain expenses that you had prepaid.

Getting A Refund

As per the Coronavirus Relief Act, students who have moved out of their dormitories earlier are eligible to obtain a refund for the board and the room. Eligible students can expect to receive a prorated amount, not the full cost that they had already paid for the semester. Contact your student loan provider to check how much refund you’re eligible for.

The refund amount received can easily be used for making any payments towards traveling, education, or expenses related to living. However, if the board and room are paid through a student loan and you don’t need a refund, consider returning it. If you keep making payments early, interest won’t be accrued on the loan.

Receiving An Emergency Grant

The education department is sending aid in the form of billions of dollars to various schools and colleges through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund approved by the Coronavirus Relief Act. An approximate amount of $6.28 billion is intended for the schools and colleges to distribute to students as emergency cash grants. 

As per the instructions by the Education Department, the emergency cash grants are eligible to be used for payments towards all the expenses related to education. These expenses include supplies and technology, child care, housing, health care, food, and so on. The entire process of obtaining the refunds depends on the process the schools are selecting to get the funding. 

Regardless of whether the student has filed for federal student aid through FAFSA or not, they’re still eligible to receive the emergency grant. While some students can get the aid automatically, others might have to go through an application process. This is because most of the schools are still in the early stage of the distribution process.  

For instance, students with previously acknowledged financial requirements at Vanderbilt University will receive around $1,100 each from the total aid of $2.8 million received by the school. Vanderbilt has shared that this qualifies nearly 20% of the total population of the school. In other schools, like the University of Connecticut, students have been instructed to email the financial aid office to file a claim. 

The amount of the refund will ultimately depend on the size and type of emergency. This varies from one school to another, along with their ability to validate the requirements during COVID-19. 

Keep Your FAFSA Updated

At the time of submitting the FAFSA, the financial status of the student might have been different from the current scenario. However, the submitted form isn’t permanent. Students can make changes if required and receive further aid, even after receiving it once. 

To update the submitted information on FAFSA, students will need to visit the official website and submit changes through the “make FAFSA corrections” screen. Students can also contact the financial aid office of the school and ask the authorized officer to make the changes on their behalf. 

The deadline to make the necessary updates to your FAFSA form is June 30th, after the semester you needed aid for. For the 2019-20 semester, the last date for submitting any changes is June 30, 2020. If you’ve already received a financial aid award for the next semester, you can also file an appeal. You’ll need to include the exact amount you need and provide genuine reason(s) for the request in your appeal.

Bottom Line

Claiming a refund can be of great help for the students who had already paid for the entire year’s room and board. The federal government has allocated enough money to schools to help the students. Check with your school’s financial aid office to learn how much prorated refund you can expect. Meanwhile, make sure to update your financial need in the FAFSA record if there has been a major change in your family’s income due to COVID.