The following message was sent to Marshall University students from President Jerry Gilbert:

“Dear Marshall University students,

As you know, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the change to remote learning through the end of the spring semester made it necessary for most of our students to leave campus early. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we respond to the unprecedented and ever-evolving challenges we all are facing.

I am writing today to give you information about how Marshall will be providing emergency financial assistance to students to help compensate them for the disruption to university services. This means we will be crediting the accounts of eligible students* for unused room and board plans, as well as prorated amounts for parking and Rec Center student fees.

We will apply credits to eligible student accounts later this month. The emergency financial assistance will first apply to any current outstanding charges on a student’s account. Any credit balance in the account after these adjustments are made will be processed as a refund to the student, based on their selected refund preference—either direct deposit to an existing bank account or a paper check mailed to your permanent address. Students should select a refund preference through the Office of the Bursar e-Refund portal, which is also available by signing in to myMU and selecting e-Refund from the Student Self-Service menu.

Tuition will not be prorated. While the modes of delivery have changed, instruction is still being delivered, and semester hours are still being earned and awarded.

The student emergency financial assistance will be calculated as follows:

Housing Contracts

·         Students with housing contracts, and who did not remain on campus for the remote-learning period, will receive an amount equal to 37.5%** of their spring semester housing charges.

Meal Plans/FLEX

·         Students who have unlimited meal plans, and who did not remain on campus for the remote-learning period, will receive an amount equal to 37.5%** of their spring semester meal plan charges.

·         Students with other meal plan types, and who did not remain on campus for the remote-learning period, will receive an amount equal to the unused meals in the student’s account.

·         All students with FLEX dollars, and who did not remain on campus for the remote-learning period, will receive an amount equal to the balance in the student’s account.

·         Meal plans for students who did remain on campus for the remote-learning period will remain active through the end of the spring semester. At that time, they will receive an amount equal to the balance of FLEX dollars in their account.

Parking Permits

·         Students who purchased parking permits for the spring 2020 semester, and who did not remain on campus for the remote-learning period, will receive an amount equal to 37.5%** of the spring permit cost.

Recreation Center Student Fees

·         All eligible students will receive an amount equal to 37.5%** of their spring Rec Center student fees.

Our goal is to have all credits available in student accounts by April 29. If that date changes, we will let you know.

To prevent possible delays in receiving your funds, please be sure to set up a refund preference using your student account e-Refund profile, and verify your permanent address and phone number are accurate and active in myMU no later than April 20, 2020. If you do not select a refund profile by that date, a paper check will be mailed to the permanent address in your records.

Please note that the quickest way to receive a refund is to select the direct deposit option in e-Refund using an existing bank account. We recommend you verify your ABA routing number and bank account number with your banking institution before selecting the direct deposit option.

We understand you may have questions about this process. Please submit inquiries to [email protected], and a university representative will respond as quickly as possible. We appreciate your patience as we work to respond to each message.

Even after these adjustments to your accounts, I know many of you may still have unmet needs. The Marshall University Foundation has a Student Emergency Fund to which many of our loyal alumni and supporters have generously contributed. To apply for assistance from this fund, please contact Michelle Biggs, Assistant Dean, of the Division of Student Affairs.

Best wishes for the remainder of the semester. I look forward to the day when our world and our university will return to normal.

Sincerely,

Jerome A. Gilbert, Ph.D.

President

* Students unaffected by the change to remote learning—including those who originally registered for the spring 2020 semester as Distance Students (i.e., completely on-line) and high school students taking Marshall classes in their schools—will not receive emergency financial assistance.

Students who remained on campus to live in university residence halls during the remote-learning period are not eligible for emergency financial assistance for housing, meal plans or parking.

Students with housing contracts in Fairfield Landing were not required to leave their apartments, so they are not eligible to receive emergency financial assistance for housing.

Students who completely withdrew from the university before the change to remote learning are not eligible to receive emergency financial assistance.

Students who had a third party that paid for their residence hall room and/or dining plan are not eligible to receive emergency financial assistance for those contracts (i.e., full scholarship athletes, international sponsorships, etc.).

** 37.5% = 6/16 for the 6 weeks of the 16-week spring semester impacted by the pandemic”