The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will dedicate $4.7 million of funding it receives from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support students with demonstrated need and who face significant financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UTC will receive additional CARES funding for a total of $9,513,779. It’s not yet known when the additional funds will be received, but those dollars will be designated by the federal government for other purposes and UTC will disburse them accordingly.
The dollars come from a higher education emergency relief fund included in the CARES Act, recently signed into law. In alignment with federal Department of Education recommendations, UTC will allocate the nearly $4.76 million to students in need as determined by several factors expected to include Pell Grant eligibility, expected family contribution and other immediate needs. Final eligibility details are to be determined in the upcoming days.
“As an institution, we recognize that a number of students are in difficult financial situations right now,” said UTC Associate Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Tyler Forrest.
“We are certainly looking to use these funds in the best way possible to mitigate those financial situations and to deploy them as quickly as possible to the eligible students, so they can be relieved of some of those financial burdens that they are feeling right now.”
UTC already is disbursing emergency funds to students with demonstrated need through the Denise and Tim Downey Student Emergency Fund, a resource established and supported with private contributions. Federal CARES Act funds are expected to supplement the student emergency fund, Forrest said.
UTC offers a range of additional resources for students:
- Scrappy’s Cupboard food pantry
- Refunds for unused portions of campus housing, meal plan and parking decals
- University Health Services is still available for students with physical health questions over the phone
- UTC Counseling Center offering remote services to students
Find more on these and other resources at: utc.edu/coronavirus.
I’m an international student facing financial hardship I used to work in Mocs dining for part time due to this covid19 situation I lost my income as an international student I cannot work out of the campus and no teacher assistantship is offered for me
Please consider that this pandemic situation is across the globe which means our parents also facing financial problems back in our home country
I have been asking the international department also please refund some amount of our fee that we have paid as the classes are being done in online which could help us a little
Please try to understand our situation we cannot go back to our home country too
Rahul,
Thank you for sharing your concerns. UTC has a Student Emergency Fund that may be able to help you, and you can learn more about it and how to request funding assistance by getting in touch with Associate Dean of Students Brett Fuchs. This is his email address: brett-fuchs@utc.edu
Please reach out if you have other concerns.
Thank you.
How does a student get the college cares act money? My son was furloughed due to COVID-19 and receives financial aid to go to college at UTC. He tried all week last week to get someone to help him in the financial aid office and the woman just kept telling him she didn’t know what to do and couldn’t help him. This money has been made available to the students and the college should be providing information on what to do.
Any help?