Yale Daily News
Yale College will provide travel funding for students on financial aid who cannot afford to go home, according to an update from Yale College Dean Marvin Chun early Thursday morning.
A day after University President Peter Salovey announced that Yale would be switching to online classes until at least April 5, Chun and heads of residential colleges provided further information on how the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak will affect students’ studies and travel plans. Many members of the Yale community had voiced concerns about students who have stayed on campus over spring break and face difficulty returning to their hometowns. In his email, Chun said that while Yale College will help finance travel home for all students who receive financial aid, exceptions apply to those hailing from countries identified by the Center for Disease Control as under a Level 3 travel advisory and those who are legally emancipated from their parents.
“At this point, I am asking you to leave campus if at all possible,” Dean Marvin Chun wrote in an email to the community. “If you are already off campus, I ask that you not return. This is a strengthening of my original request, made possible by the decision that Yale College can arrange and pay for travel home for all students on financial aid. I understand that staying away from campus will pose challenges and hardships. Still, this is the most prudent course for community and individual safety.”
According to the updated FAQ page on the Yale College website, students will have varying obligations pertinent to the student effort portion of financial aid, as some student jobs can be performed remotely. Students on financial aid who are still on campus and are eating in dining halls will not receive compensation for the meal plan that they are using on campus at present.
In addition, students in residential college housing who are vacating campus will receive pro-rated remuneration once the timeline for the remainder of the semester has been finalized. The website said that financial aid packages for students who receive aid will remain unchanged.
The updated FAQ page on Yale College’s website has said that Updated FAQ info stated that the deadline for withdrawal from full-term courses will be extended from 5 p.m. on the last day of classes to the last day of final exams on the 6th of May. Accordingly, students may choose to convert full-term courses to Credit/D/Fail until 5 p.m. on May 6.
Morse College Dean Angela Gleason and Head of Morse College Catherine Panter-Brick wrote to Morse students Wednesday evening informing them of the college’s plans for the coronavirus outbreak. They wrote that all common spaces in the college — library, dining hall, common room and buttery — would be red-lit, meaning locked to all students, after the March 15 deadline to move off campus. Additionally, they said that they would continue to provide updates but would not be able to respond to individual students’ emails regarding arrangements for the outbreak.
Yale College Council President Kahlil Greene ’21 said that he hopes the University will continue to communicate with students.
“It seems that now, the recommendation is to leave or stay at home is more grave,” Greene said. “I understand that circumstances may change, but hopefully the plan stays as consistent as possible.”
As of yet, the FAQ page indicates that the University has yet to decide whether University-wide events such as Spring Fling and University Commencement will be cancelled.
As of March 12, there are three reported cases of COVID-19 in Connecticut.
John Besche | john.besche@yale.edu