5.20.20: CARES Act Information for Students

An update sent to students from the Financial Aid office regarding the CARES Act funding.

Dear Student,

You may already be aware that Lehigh has been given funding as part of The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that is to be used to provide cash grants to students for expenses related to disruptions to their educations due to the COVID-19 outbreak such as course materials, food, housing, technology-related expenses, and transportation costs.

Students who are eligible to receive Title IV financial aid (U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizen; a valid Social Security number; registration with Selective Service if the student is male; and a high school diploma, GED, or completion of high school in an approved homeschool setting) are eligible to receive the CARES act funding. Note that a student does not have to have financial need to receive CARES Act funding. We will use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to confirm that a student is eligible to receive Title IV Aid. If you have not yet filed a FAFSA, it is not too late! Submit the FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov immediately following your submission for CARES Act funding so we can consider you.

CARES Act funding will not impact your current or future financial aid awards. This is above and beyond your current award.

Request for CARES Act Funding:

We have extended the deadline to collect applications to Monday, May 25th. We will make funding decisions by May 29. You will be notified of the result via email. Funding will first be awarded to students with financial need and if there is money remaining, we will provide funding to students who do not have need but otherwise meet the eligibility criteria.

Jennifer Mertz

Assistant Vice Provost of Financial Services and Director of Financial Aid

Pronouns: she/her/hers

The Office of Financial Aid is working remotely but will continue to be available via phone (610-758-3181) or email (financialaid@lehigh.edu) Monday – Friday from 8:15 am – 4:45 pm.

*Please note that there will be a delay in processing documents that are sent in via standard mail which may hold up the processing of your financial aid application. During this time, we strongly encourage you to submit any requested documents electronically using our LUFileSender tool.

Helpful links:

CARES Act Funding Application Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5GKHorLOD8VUcEjZtytEIhDb9FQHOkuvTt2geTlDKyRc1yA/viewform

FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

LU File Sender Tool: https://filesender.lehigh.edu/custom.php?instance=esc

Financial Aid Office website: https://www1.lehigh.edu/financialaid