COVID-19 Financial Aid FAQ

President Price has recently established a new Duke Student Assistance Fund to provide support for extraordinary expenses and needs that may have come up as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. We will be communicating very soon to undergraduate, graduate and professional students regarding the potential uses of these funds and how you can request support from that fund.

Further information will be available starting Monday, April 6th at duke.edu/studentassistance. We are asking a team of staff to work together to answer any questions individual students or families may have, and they will review individual circumstances as needed.

First-year, sophomore and junior Duke students who lived in on-campus housing prior to March 13 will receive a credit to their Fall 2020 semester bill for the prorated portion of Spring semester housing costs covering the period March 13-May 10. This credit will reduce the cost of on-campus housing for Fall 2020.

Students graduating Spring 2020 will receive a refund instead of a credit. If you are not graduating this semester and do not return to campus housing next year, we will refund at that time.

Students who had a Spring 2020 dining plan will receive a credit to the Fall 2020 semester for the unused portion of their dining account. Students who receive need-based financial aid through the university will receive an immediate payment equal to the amount of unused dining funds. Graduating students with eligible plans will receive a refund equal to the amount of unused dining funds.

If you are still living on campus for the remainder of Spring 2020, your costs will remain the same for spring housing and there will not be a credit toward your fall bill for your prorated spring housing costs.

If you are living off-campus (and have been since January 2020), you will need to continue to pay your rent and abide by your rental agreements. Financial aid packages will not be adjusted for students living off campus – we will not reduce your financial aid for housing, but we will not increase it above what you have already received.

Yes, graduating seniors will receive the refund of the housing credit.

Signing up for direct deposit through DukeHub is the quickest and safest way to get funds from the university. They will be deposited to your personal bank account and will clear immediately. If you do not have direct deposit and a refund of dining points or loan proceeds is coming to you, the University will cut a paper check and send it to the permanent address on file.

Yes, please contact Sachelle Ford, Director of the DukeLIFE Office who is coordinating the University efforts to insure that all students have the computing and connectivity needs met. 

If you purchased a meal plan, any unused meals will be refunded to you. Since no housing was charged to you, no refund can be issued for housing, but you will continue to receive your RA stipend.

Students employed by Duke should contact their supervisor to determine if they can continue to work remotely. If you are able to do so, please report your hours as normal and you will continue to be paid, via direct deposit, on the standard bi-weekly schedule.

If you are not able to work remotely, Duke will continue to pay you based on the schedule that was in place before Spring Break. These electronic payments will be made regardless of the type of employment (i.e., federal work study, Duke work-study or Duke employment). Financial Aid will be sending out a notice to each student receiving payment for un-worked hours letting students know the total amount they should expect to receive. We anticipate that we will send this email out on or around Friday, April 9th.  Students on the bi-weekly payroll will receive two paychecks, one on April 24 and a second on May 8. The first paycheck will be for 2/3 of your anticipated earnings and the 2nd paycheck will be for the last 1/3.   We are not able to compensate students for more hours than they worked before spring break.  If you are not already set up for direct deposit, please enroll using Duke@Work (work.duke.edu).

Students who were working at Duke but were not using Duke or Federal work study funds are also eligible for payment for hours they would have worked and were unable to due to the virus.  Payroll and human resources are working to determine amounts to be paid based on hours worked in the first part of the semester. Students on the bi-weekly payroll should receive payments for unworked hours on April 24 and May 8. If you are not already set up for direct deposit, please enroll using Duke@Work (work.duke.edu).

If you are not able to continue working remotely, Duke will continue to pay you for your unworked hours. Unlike other work study students, however, it is not possible to process these payments through Duke payroll (since you were being paid by the non-profit employer). Financial aid will send an email to each student who worked for a non-profit employer on or around Friday, April 9th with what you can expect to receive. Financial Aid will process a one-time grant payment for the total amount and will request a refund on your behalf from the Bursar’s office.  All students should be signed up for direct deposit to receive the one-time payment via ACH payment to your bank account.

For each student who was working at Duke (work study or not) we used the hours worked before spring break to arrive at an average number of hours worked.  We are not able to take into account hours students intended to work after break if they were more than the hours actually worked before break. The paychecks you’ll receive cannot exceed your total financial aid work study allocation.  If you were not on track to earn all of your work study allocation, the paychecks will not reach the balance of the allocation.  Payments represent an average number of hours we could have expected you to work if you had been able to remain on campus. 

Here's a link to the most recent information on the impact for student loans: https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/coronavirus#borrower-questions

Congress mandated the Department of Education (ED) suspend payments and interest accrual on federally-held student loans until Sept. 30, 2020. Loan servicers will be required by the end of next week to apply the benefits of the COVID-19 relief package retroactively to March 13, and to turn off automatic payments for borrowers who have recurring ACH transfers. ED also wrote that loan servicers can apply the interest borrowers paid on their loans after March 13 to their principal balance, or that borrowers can request a refund for those payments from their lender. Additionally, ED wrote that loan servicers must report all suspended payments as on-time payments to credit bureaus, so as to not negatively impact a borrower’s credit report.  

ED also updated its COVID-19 information web page with new guidance for borrowers questioning whether to stop making loan payments before changes are officially implemented. In response to a question about what will happen to auto-payments if a borrower takes no action, ED wrote that any auto-payments processed between March 13 and September 30 can be refunded upon request to loan servicers. 

One outstanding question was whether the legislation will apply to the loans of students who recently graduated and have not entered into repayment. Based on the instructions servicers received from ED, Trump's announcement to waive interest on all federally-held loans starting March 13, 2020, including loans for borrowers in school and in their grace period, is not to be altered by the CARES Act, except that it is to end Sept. 30, 2020.

Please contact Global Education to make travel arrangements to get home. 

Hold off doing anything until we have an understanding of whether the summer programs will be moving forward.  We will have further guidance as decisions are made about the continuation of Duke’s programs. 

Short answer: sit tight. 

If summer study is business as usual we will process aid as usual. For summer study abroad/away programs we are not issuing any advanced refunds for tickets until we know that it is safe to purchase and fly. If this results in higher ticket prices later, we will adjust the student budget to reflect the higher cost.

Yes.

Please contact the program directly about their policies related to students leaving programs before the program is closed or has ended.  Any refunds for payments would have to come from the Duke-Approved programs.  If you need additional funding for flights home or to pay for change fees, financial aid can help with that. Email us at finaid@duke.edu

We are planning to process summer aid as usual but will not be releasing funds early for tickets until we are sure the program will be running.  We will make sure that you are able to get a ticket and get to your program in time, even if your ticket is more expensive.

Travel course program fees and group airfare charges will be adjusted to reflect students who are no longer doing the travel component of their course. You may or may not receive a refund depending on your specific situation.

If you are receiving need-based or merit-based aid that covers the cost of your travel course program fee or group airfare charge, the reduction in cost will result in a reduction of your aid and will not be refunded to you.

If you receive need-based financial aid from Duke, we may be able to help with the cost of your flight change fees or one-way ticket to your home/permanent destination. Please email your financial aid counselor regarding your situation and needs.

The University is encouraging all students who are currently away from campus but not at home to return home.  Instructions will be provided later in the semester as to how to retrieve personal items in your dorm room, which will be locked and kept intact until further instruction.  Student Affairs is working to mail any essential items to students so that students will not need to return.

Fill out the online housing form to request to remain on campus. Further instructions will be provided by student affairs after they receive your form and consider your request.

If you receive need-based financial aid from Duke, we may be able to help with the cost of your flight change fees or one-way ticket to your home/permanent destination. Please email your financial aid counselor regarding your situation and needs. Your counselor is listed on DukeHub or you can send your email to finaid@duke.edu, and we’ll be sure your request gets to the right person.

Information regarding how belongings will be sent to students or retrieved at a later time will be posted as soon as it is available. Please refer to keeplearning.duke.edu for the latest information.