Bethel Uni­ver­sity Re­sponds Fi­nan­cially to COVID-19

MISHAWAKA – Since the sign­ing of the Coro­n­avirus Re­lief Bill two weeks ago, many col­lege stu­dents have quickly be­come aware that they may not be el­i­gi­ble to re­ceive a check; this leaves col­lege stu­dents won­der­ing how they will be able to af­ford to make loan pay­ments for the se­mes­ter. Many col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties rec­og­nize the need for stu­dents to re­ceive fi­nan­cial re­lief, and Bethel Uni­ver­sity is cur­rently work­ing on a plan to aid stu­dents in this dif­fi­cult time.  

“Our cur­rent cir­cum­stances have def­i­nitely caused chal­lenges for every­one, and our staff and fac­ulty are feel­ing the weight that our stu­dents are car­ry­ing,” said Bethel Uni­ver­sity Di­rec­tor of Fi­nan­cial Aid, Cindi Ped­er­son. “The changes that we have all been faced with have im­pacted [stu­dents’] ed­u­ca­tion, liv­ing sit­u­a­tions and for many, fi­nan­cial sit­u­a­tions. While the full im­pact of this on every­one's fi­nances is not yet known and while we are pray­ing and be­liev­ing for God's con­tin­ued faith­ful­ness and pro­vi­sion, we are work­ing hard to put plans in place to help our stu­dents and fam­i­lies any way pos­si­ble.” 

Ped­er­son adds the cab­i­net is cur­rently work­ing to ad­just room and board ex­penses for el­i­gi­ble stu­dents, a plan which they hope to fi­nal­ize as soon as pos­si­ble. She added that the uni­ver­sity is also wait­ing for ad­di­tional guid­ance from the US De­part­ment of Ed­u­ca­tion for pos­si­ble ways to aid stu­dents through the CARES Act. The uni­ver­sity is mon­i­tor­ing up­dates daily in or­der to im­ple­ment ad­di­tional op­por­tu­ni­ties as soon as pos­si­ble.  

There are spe­cific de­tails avail­able for stu­dent loan bor­row­ers; Ped­er­son says that, as part of the CARES Act, all in­ter­est on stu­dent loans will cease to ac­crue from the sign­ing of the bill on March 27 through Sept. 30, 2020. In ad­di­tion, pay­ments for stu­dents who have loans in re­pay­ment will also be sus­pended un­til Sept. 30, 2020. No ac­tion is nec­es­sary for stu­dents to re­quest these forms of re­lief as loan ser­vicers will au­to­mat­i­cally im­ple­ment them. If stu­dents have ad­di­tional ques­tions re­gard­ing re­lief, they may con­tact their ser­vicer by phone or through the ser­vicer’s web­site. 

Ped­er­son added a word of cau­tion: it is pos­si­ble we will see a rise in scams that ap­pear to ben­e­fit bor­row­ers. She of­fers a few pieces of ad­vice to avoid scams.  

1. Be sure to speak to your ac­tual ser­vicer; if you have ques­tions, con­tact them di­rectly so there is no ques­tion as to who is on the other end of the con­ver­sa­tion. 

1. Your ser­vicer will au­to­mat­i­cally im­ple­ment these ben­e­fits. No one should call you ask­ing for in­for­ma­tion from you in or­der to re­ceive these ben­e­fits.  

1. Never give sen­si­tive in­for­ma­tion out over the phone and use cau­tion when ac­cess­ing sen­si­tive in­for­ma­tion on­line.