May 11, 2020

Happy Monday evening, Everyone,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend before the weather turned and that your week has started off well. As we wrap up the Spring 2020 semester—in a very different place than when we started it—I invite all of you to share in the pride I feel in our community. I am incredibly proud of our students, whether they are about to graduate or are about to finish their first year. And I am proud of the dedicated faculty and staff who have maintained our commitment to our students during this strange and challenging time.

As I shared with students early last week, federal CARES Act Emergency Aid has been made available to many students at CSU, administered by the CSU Office of Financial Aid. To-date, we have disbursed more than $3.2 million to more than 2,600 of our students.

What you may not know is that unfortunately, some of our students are not eligible for CARES Act aid: including our international and undocumented students, as well as students who, for a variety of reasons, no longer qualify for federal student aid.

I’m proud to assure you all that thanks to our wonderful teams in the Office of Financial Aid, the Division of Student Affairs, and Enrollment and Access, CSU has activated institutional and private funding sources to help meet the needs of these students. In fact, to-date we have provided varying levels of aid outside of CARES Act funds to about 400 students, including 218 undocumented Coloradans who qualify for in-state tuition via the ASSET bill. Each of these students received $1,500. The university awarded those grants in the same manner that we awarded CARES Act funding, based on an assessment of individual student need.

I wish I could list here every staff and faculty member who has gone above and beyond these past few months to maintain and strengthen our commitment to our students. But there really wouldn’t be space. What I can do is re-affirm that everyone at CSU truly does think of our students first, no matter what the context or situation. That’s why in addition to outright grants and monetary relief, we have provided continued employment this semester for student workers who needed it. We’ve provided and even expanded student support services both residentially and virtually. And we’ve made sure that CSU’s food pantry is open and stocked to feed all members of our community experiencing food insecurity.

So students, as you prep for exams and put the finishing touches on final papers, remember that you are always in our thoughts and in our hearts. And to those of you who make CSU such a wonderful home for our students, thank you! I wish you all easy grading this week, fun Teams meetings, lighter inboxes, and a return of sunshine outside your windows.

Warmly,

Joyce