Wednesday updates
News on several fronts to report. This afternoon, parents and families received some general information about the refund process; information is available at refunds.wfu.edu. A few points I want to mention:
Students will receive information about their individual refunds on Friday, April 17. In case you are wondering why that message goes to the students (rather than the parents/family members who might be paying their tuition), that is in accordance with federal privacy laws, as the student is the legal owner of the account. Therefore, we encourage you to talk with your students between now and Friday to decide how you want to handle the refund.
Because we know students tend to like videos more than written instructions, a video was created to walk them through the refund process; you can view that here.
One of the options on the refund site is to donate some or all of it back to our Crisis Response Fund. I want to be sure to clarify that option is there because we had many parents and families ask if there is a way to donate their refund back, as they want to help. Here is some background:
The Crisis Response Fund was established to provide support to members of our community experiencing financial hardships resulting from these economic realities. Thanks to this fund, Wake Foresters are receiving help with housing, meals, family care and other basic necessities stemming from the temporary closing of campus and the unstable economy. Please know, we offer this opportunity with a great deal of humility and do not expect all families to direct all or even part of their refund to the Crisis Response Fund.
If you are in a fortunate financial position and have the resources to spare, please consider whether you might be willing to take all or part of the refund and donate it to our Crisis Response Fund. And if you are in a tight position yourself and need that money, I understand that too; we all need to do what is best for our families (and you know I love everyone in the Daily Deacdom no matter what they do!)
In related news, yesterday our Director of Athletics, John Currie (’93), sent out his From the Quad e-newsletter. In it, he announced that he and his head coaches have agreed to stand in solidarity with Dr. Hatch and senior leaders by taking a voluntary pay cut of 10% to help assist with budget concerns. You can read From the Quad here.
Couple of other program notes. One of Wake’s signature summer programs is our pre-college Summer Immersion Program. They announced this week that in light of COVID-19, they have made the decision to move the on-campus portion of their programs online. You can learn more at the Summer Immersion Program website. There is a College Launch for Leadership, a Summer Exploration Program, and the Summer Immersion Program to choose from. These are terrific programs and help give high schoolers (and even middle schoolers) a taste of what college is like.
I feel for our seniors because they have gone through so much, being unable to finish their final semester on campus. And many of them are now going to enter the job market in a time of great uncertainty. We have some wonderful advice from Andy Chan, our Vice President for Innovation and Career Development, on how students can weather the stormy job market.
My apologies to some of our families in Bostwick and Johnson residence halls. Yesterday I referenced an email that went to students in those halls (and a few students in Polo) regarding the need to pack and store their belongings due to upcoming necessary maintenance work. We meant to send to all families of impacted students, and due to a data reporting issue, not every family received that message as planned. You can read it here (and thank you for your understanding). We do have a meeting scheduled tonight at 6 pm to help explain what we are doing and why; link to register.
Finally, one of our wonderful essential employees (who can still access campus) is Dennette Lilly of University Police. She has been taking pictures of campus when she is out and about and will send them to me. She tells me that campus feels empty without the students, faculty and staff, and she hopes y’all stay healthy. I for one am happy to have an extra look at Mother So Dear. I miss her terribly.
Stay safe and well, Daily Deacdom!
