COVID-19 Financial Aid Impacts

In most cases, changing from graded to credit/no credit should not have an impact on your financial aid eligibility as long as you are passing the course. However, we encourage you to contact our office to review your account before you make the decision.

The Student Financial Aid Office is fully operational during reduced campus operations due to COVID-19. We encourage you to submit any and all documents as soon as you receive the request so that we can get them reviewed. We anticipate normal processing delays based on increased document volumes during the summer months. Please continue to check GoWMU and your WMU email for regular updates.

Summer financial aid applications can be submitted with electronic signatures if they are emailed from your WMU email address. Please note, electronic signatures will not be accepted for forms emailed from personal email addresses, they must be submitted via the students WMU email address. Federal Parent PLUS Loan applications require a handwritten wet signature.

You may submit a photocopy of the form and your government-issued photo ID and either upload them through the online student forms portal, email to finaid-info@wmich.edu, or submit them via mail.

Mailing Address:
Student Financial Aid
Western Michigan University
1903 W. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5337

There is an appeal process for student’s whose family circumstances differ from what is reported on the FAFSA. For families who are affected financially due to COVID-19, we will begin reviewing appeals in June. Please call Bronco Express at (269) 387-6000 to schedule an appointment with a Financial Service Specialist to discuss your change in circumstances. Please note, Proxy Access must be granted for anyone other than the student who has an appointment.

CARES Act application submissions have commenced. Students should check their WMU email and GoWMU for notifications regarding their application and refund.

According to CARES funding eligibility requirements, among other stipulations, a recipient must:

- have been enrolled for classes in the Spring 2020 semester as of March 13, 2020 in an undergraduate or graduate degree-seeking program (students who were exclusively enrolled in an online distance education program are not eligible),
- have a 2019-20 FAFSA on file with Western Michigan University, and
- demonstrate financial need or hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

To access and apply for CARES funding:
1. Go to https://wmich.scholarshipuniverse.com (WMU’s ScholarshipUniverse application tool) and login using your Bronco NetID and password.
- First time users: click the “I’m Ready” button to begin and answer screening questions.
- Returning user: click the gray banner or “Questions” tab and answer new screening questions.
2. After you have answered the screening questions, click the brown “Matches” tab to view if you are eligible for WMU CARES funding. If you are eligible, the CARES application will appear. Click “Apply” to begin.
3. Answer the questions in the Student Emergency Funding section and click “Continue”.
4. Answer the Acknowledgements section and click “Continue”.

Please allow 7-10 business days for processing of applications. Once your application has been processed, the refund procedure will begin. Refunds will disperse electronically if you have an e-refund account set-up or you will be mailed a paper check. Please continue to check GoWMU regarding the status of your refund.

We also recommend staying up-to-date with WMU's COVID-19 procedures https://wmich.edu/covid-19.

Students and parents can contact our office via email finaid-info@wmich.edu or call (269) 387-6000 to determine together the next steps you must take.

For students who have lost their job due to COVID-19 - if you need immediate emergency assistance you can apply for support through the Student Emergency Relief Fund (SERF) through the Invisible Needs Project. This is emergency assistance that we are able to provide to students immediately based on their needs. Apply at https://wmich.edu/invisibleneed/serf and note that students must be enrolled half-time in order to receive emergency funds through SERF.

Students that are enrolled in Summer I or II classes must apply for the summer financial aid request funds through the Summer Financial Aid Request form at https://wmich.edu/finaid/resources/forms. Any families facing loss of employment due to COVID-19, these requests will be considered in June. Please review our website, email or call our office for additional information. If students are in need of emergency financial support we strongly encourage them to apply for the Student Emergency Relief Fund (SERF) Invisible Needs Project. Apply at https://wmich.edu/invisibleneed/serf.

Any students and/or parents who have been impacted financially through reduction of employment: layoff, furlough, reduced work hours, will be able to have those details reviewed in June for us to decide the approximate financial impact. In June, we will be able to assess and advise of the best next steps necessary for students and their families to take for us to determine if additional information is needed for us to reconsider your financial aid eligibility.

Whether you are performing job duties remotely for your department or not currently working, you will be paid the wages based upon your previously established work schedule(s). For students who hold a combination of work-study and non-work-study jobs, and are not working, you will continue to be paid from work-study for only the job(s) that were paid from work-study before. 

No, paid wages will be based upon previously established work schedule(s). As a reminder, Federal Work-study students may not work during scheduled class times, which includes on-line courses.  

Yes, paid wages will be based upon previously established work schedule(s). Your department should submit time for both remote work and the difference. 

In addition to the standard documentation requirements found at https://wmich.edu/finaid/workstudy/employers/campus departments are required to maintain the following in the student’s file: 
- Student work schedule. (As a reminder, Federal Work-study students may not work during scheduled class times, which includes on-line courses).
- Documentation noting the dates of COVID-19 payments.
- Documentation recording if/when a student worked during this time frame.

Whether performing job duties remotely for your department or not currently working, Federal Work-study recipients will be paid wages based upon previously established work schedule(s). 

Yes, you should be submitting time worked remotely as well as the difference. The specific circumstances must be documented in the student’s file. 

No, a non-working student must have had a previously established work schedule to qualify for payment during this time.

This information can be found using the PeopleSoft Timekeeper Report. Instructions for gaining access and running the report can be found at https://wmich.edu/hr/officemanagement/reporting.

This information can be found using the Cognos report, 30.30.10 Work Study Departmental Auditing. It is located within the 30.00 Financial Aid folder under Team Content. You will be asked to provide the semester and the name of your department.

Yes, if a student has a spring work-study offer, unused funds from Summer II and Fall are eligible to carry forward. Those unused amounts should be considered when determining remaining FWS eligibility.

BW2010 (4/20/20 – 5/3/20) is the final work-study payroll for the Spring 2020 semester. All unpaid scheduled hours for the Spring semester are required to be submitted during this pay period.

Federal Work-study payments during the COVID-19 time frame can be made for hours beginning 3/5/20.

As a supervisor, please continue to submit bi-weekly time for the upcoming pay periods during Spring semester. For time for non-working students and working students should continue to be processed through Kronos. Federal work-study employee hours should be entered in Kronos as usual. FWS students who are being paid wages, but not working, you must use the comment code COVID.

Please visit the Student Financial Aid website at https://wmich.edu/finaid/workstudy/employers/campus or email specific questions to angela.madden@wmich.edu.