COVID-19 Resources

Dear Students and Families,

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has just issued an updated order for travelers into the state.

Although the order officially goes into effect at midnight on Thursday, in an effort to comply with the updated state directive for travelers into Pennsylvania, effective immediately, all families will be expected to remain in their vehicles wearing face coverings for move-out. Students may pack and carry items to the curb to meet families for loading and travel home. Boxes have been provided to students in all residence hall lounges to facilitate the packing process. In an effort to limit potential virus spread and protect our campus community, campus guests are strongly requested not to have physical contact with their students until the student has fully moved out of their campus housing. Once students have made physical contact with families, they are not permitted to re-enter the buildings or to be in physical contact with other students or employees.

As a reminder, we have extended move-out time on Saturday, November 21, 2020, until 5 p.m., and there will be some limited employee helpers for larger items or for students who need extra assistance. Please pay attention to traffic officers and directional signs to make for a smooth move-out process. There are storage options in the local community, and the College is providing free transportation to the storage facilities for those who make appointments. For students who need assistance with the costs of storage, please request a Gator Success Grant to offset the costs. Ideally, students can make storage arrangements prior to move-out so families can limit possible exposure on and off campus.

If plans have changed for students, necessitating an on-campus stay through the end of fall semester (subject to restrictions and quarantine), please complete the Remote Session Housing Request form. As announced several months ago, this option is at an additional cost and is only available through December 12, 2020.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

April Thompson
Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students

Download the CARES Act Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion final report.

View full archive of CARES Act Student Aid Reports

In accordance with Section 18004(e) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act” or the “Act”), The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (“HEERF”) contained in Section 18004 of the CARES Act, and the guidance issued by the United States Department of Education, including Office of Postsecondary Education’s guidance dated May 6, 2020, Allegheny College submits this report concerning the first award Allegheny College received under the HEERF consisting of funds for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.

1. Acknowledgement of Funding and Certification

Allegheny College reviewed, signed and returned the U.S. Department of Educations’ Certification and Agreement for these funds on April 14, 2020. Allegheny College received a grant award notification on April 23, 2020. As required by the certification, Allegheny College will use no less than fifty percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants directly to students.

2. Funds Awarded for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students

Allegheny College received $871,541 under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19.

3. Emergency Financial Aid Grants Distributed to Students to Date Under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act

Of the $871,541 Allegheny College received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19, Allegheny College had distributed $729,992 as of August 20th, 2020, and an additional $29,468 as of October 10th, 2020, bringing the total to $759,460.

4. Eligible Students

Allegheny College had approximately 1,400 students in the spring semester and approximately 1,350 for the fall semester as of the date of this report that are eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 by filing a valid FAFSA for the 2019-2020 academic year and, thus, are eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.

5. Eligible Students Receiving CARES Act Aid

Allegheny College has distributed funds it received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19 to 986 students as of August 20th, 2020 and another 109 students as of October 10th, 2020, bringing the total to 1,095.

6. Distribution Method

Funds Already Distributed

In order to qualify for Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act, Allegheny College students must first be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and incur expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the coronavirus. Of those students that qualified, Allegheny College chose to provide an initial disbursement of Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students who qualified for needs-based room and board grants under Allegheny’s internal criteria because it determined those students were most in need those and necessarily incurred COVID-19 pandemic related expenses following the loss of on-campus room and board.

In order to calculate these students’ COVID-19 related expenses, Allegheny College used its institutional policy for estimating needs-based commuter student room and board costs for the remaining 40% of the spring semester. This calculation resulted in an Emergency Financial Aid Grant maximum award of $800 per student.

In order to distribute this grant as expeditiously as possible, beginning on April 13, 2020, Allegheny College provided Emergency Federal Aid Grant relief to students in the same manner as it had previously provided institutional need-based aid, through students’ online accounts. Because Allegheny College began providing qualifying relief funds to qualifying students prior to Allegheny College’s receipt of any CARES Act funding, in accordance with United States Department of Education guidance, Allegheny College reimbursed itself from a portion of the CARES Act funding it received in the amount it advanced to its students in accordance with the above methodology.

Funds Reserved for Future Distribution

Allegheny College has reserved $186,192 for eligible students that incur other additional expenses related to the disruption of on-campus instruction as a result of COVID-19. The reserve amount in Emergency Financial Aid Grants for students under Section 18004(a)(1) may be applied for using the Success Grant application available on the Allegheny College’s Dean of Students webpage. As of July 7, 2020 the balance in the reserve for eligible students is $150,749. Allegheny College has not finalized its distribution methodology for these funds and reserves its right to modify this report as needed.

7. Communication to Students Concerning the Emergency Financial Aid Grants

All students who were enrolled in the 2020 spring semester, as well as those enrolled in the 2020 fall semester, were notified of the opportunity to apply for this funding via email. Students are asked to include in the application the amount and brief description of the expense incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is used to determine an award amount. For students already issued Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1), the expense must be in addition to the expense for which they already received funds.

Dear Students,

In July, we asked you to tell us your plans for living and learning for the Fall 2020 semester. Over 1,300 students told us that they planned to live and learn on campus. We now ask you to tell us your plans for living and learning for the Module 2 portion of the Spring 2021 semester, so Monday, February 22 through Monday, May 17. Please see the Spring 2021 academic calendar here. If you are remote for Fall 2020, you may attend in person for Spring 2021, and vice versa. Or you may continue what you initially chose. Please complete the following form by noon on Thursday, November 19, to let us know what you intend.

Student Living and Learning Decision for Spring 2021

You will need to be logged into your allegheny.edu account to complete this form. Once you have completed the form, a confirmation will be sent to your allegheny.edu e-mail. If this confirmation does not arrive, then you did not successfully complete the form.

Students will be able to change their minds up through the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester, so through Monday, January 18. After that date students may elect to change their mind from in-person to remote but not vice versa. i.e., after that date, the decision to study remotely may not be changed. As we know that bills are due on December 31, there will be no late fees assessed in January for students who change their minds about the living decision in January.

This is separate from any request you may wish to make to remain on campus for the remote periods (November 22 to December 12, 2020 and/or January 18 to February 19, 2021). The Remote Session Housing Request was sent to you on October 1 and has a November 1 deadline.

As we said to you in July, we did not take lightly the unprecedented decision to waive the College’s housing residency requirement, and allow students to attend the College from home, as the campus living and learning community is a hallmark of an Allegheny education. But these are unprecedented times.

Students have the choice to live and learn on campus, or to live and learn remotely. Students who make the decision to live and learn remotely are not permitted to come to campus. Students who have already received a housing exemption to be a commuter may live off campus and learn on campus.

Students who elect to live and learn remotely in Spring 2021 will not be charged for room and board but will be charged tuition and other fees. As a result, a student’s cost of attendance will change and financial aid may be reduced proportionately. Refunds will be issued for room and board payments already made, as appropriate.

Students who do not complete this form, as well as those who have not completed the leave process, will be assumed to be living and learning at Allegheny College in the spring and will be billed accordingly. Unless we hear otherwise from you, students who have already completed the existing housing exemption process for spring will be assumed to be living and learning as per that request.

If you have questions, please e-mail fall2020@allegheny.edu. Please review the form linked above before doing so, as it may answer your questions.

We look forward to receiving your responses.

April Thompson
Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students

Ian Binnington
Dean of Curriculum and College Registrar

To our campus community,

The following is an update on the health and safety of the community.

We currently have no community members with active COVID-19. We have one student in quarantine.

The first week of rapid testing at our on-campus CVS site was successful. Thank you to those who, unfortunately, waited a long time on Monday and Tuesday, and to those who worked through sign-up glitches. Despite some administrative hiccups — which have been resolved — we have been able to achieve our goal of testing approximately 60 students and employees per day. In addition to our asymptomatic surveillance, we have been able to include a few community members who reported feeling ill and were added to the testing schedule last minute. This eliminated the need to quarantine ill students and thus reduced the drain on campus resources. It also decreased the stress level of those individuals and their close contacts.

Please note that the Allegheny College COVID-19 dashboard results will lag by one to two days. CVS does internal vetting of results, so they report final numbers approximately 24 hours later. We also have to account for the human factor, as only Dr. Gabrielle Morrow has access to test results. If she is providing direct patient care or counseling persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and their families, the results may be delayed a short time longer. The ACHA aims for full transparency, so if you have a question or concern about the results or the dashboard updates, please send us an email at healthagency@allegheny.edu.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is asking all state residents, including college students, to download the new COVID Alert PA mobile app. The app provides alerts for potential exposures to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and advice for what to do if you have a potential exposure to COVID-19. The College is not requiring individuals to download the app, but we encourage everyone to sign up for this powerful new tool that can be used to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Thanks to your efforts, we are now living and learning in person for the fifth week in a row! This is due to YOUR commitment to safety. Thank you to everyone in our campus community for all you are doing. Allegheny Strong!

The team at the Allegheny College Health Agency

Dear Allegheny community members,

This Monday (9/21), rapid testing starts at Allegheny College!

All community members will receive an email invitation over the next few weeks to schedule a rapid test through our on-line system. Testing is available by invitation only, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CVS is administering the nasal swab test, which is manufactured by Abbott. The testing location is in Edwards Hall. You will get your results within 15 minutes of the test! If you are positive, a nurse practitioner will counsel you immediately in a private area and help you make plans for isolation. We expect to test the entire Allegheny College community every 35 days.

Help keep our community safe and our college open by scheduling and showing up on time for your rapid test each time you are contacted!

We welcome your questions and suggestions at healthagency@allegheny.edu. Keep in mind that we are also providing ongoing medical care to all those in isolation and quarantine, so while we answer every e-mail personally, it may take a few days to respond.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to the health and safety of the Allegheny community.

Dr. Gabrielle Morrow

Dear Allegheny Students,

We are happy to report that the campus quarantine process has been observed according to plans. The most recent test results have been better than expected, and students have been great at abiding by the Gator Pledge and following face covering and distancing policies.

While we have had students test positive, we have had an unprecedented collaboration between the Allegheny College Health Agency (ACHA), College leadership, faculty, and students resulting in less than 1% of our student population with COVID-19 at any time. The current positivity rate is 0.1%.

We are now ready to end the campus-wide quarantine except for anyone who has been designated for individual quarantine by the ACHA. The ACHA has recommended and the administration has approved an end to the quarantine, effective 9 a.m. September 15.

What does this mean for each student?

This means that any student who is not currently positive nor under individual quarantine restrictions may travel off campus into the local community. Anyone doing so must follow all of the mitigation efforts you also follow on campus: always wearing a mask, keeping physical distance, washing hands, using common sense.

• Travel to restricted states is not permitted. If traveling outside of the county, please complete the Off-Campus Travel Form.
• Students may leave campus for appointments and shopping. Continue to use delivery and curbside options whenever possible.
• Students may eat in restaurants only where they are able to appropriately physically distance.
• Off-campus work is restricted to only those who rely on the income to pay for their livelihood. Please contact ACHA for more information.
• All vehicles must be at one-half capacity, masks must be worn, and students should spread out to maximize physical distance.

Beginning September 21, we will be screening cohorts of 60 students, faculty, and staff per day, five days a week. This will enable us to identify new clusters of COVID-19 and take swift and appropriate action to isolate them, keeping the campus as safe as possible. These groups are specifically formed to represent all residence halls, athletic teams, and other easily-identified cohorts on campus. We will cycle through our entire community every 32–35 days.

While Allegheny College has shown that it was better prepared and more diligent in meeting COVID-19 prevention requirements than many other colleges and universities, if we hope to remain open for in-person living and learning through November 20, the situation will continue to require careful monitoring. Individual responsibility requirements for anyone leaving campus overnight are listed BELOW.

Important Updates and Reminders

• Please note that, starting September 15, the Wise Center will be open for use by students, faculty, and staff only. There will be limited hours and new COVID-19 protocols in place. The Wise Center will use a reservation system for individuals working out since every space in the facility will have limited capacity. Further details about reserving a time will be shared with the campus community. Also on September 15, athletic teams will begin their first phase of training which will be closely supervised by the coaches, who have been invaluable in helping to contain the recent cluster of COVID-19 cases.
• There can still be no gatherings, no parties, no visitors to the residence halls from off campus, or other behaviors that put the health and safety of the community at risk. In general, the only person you should be within six feet of without a face covering is your roommate.
• A few students have rightfully asked why, after the campus quarantine ends, we are planning to bring admissions visitors to campus, including athletic recruits. We want to be clear that we are doing so under the strict guidance of our epidemiologists and medical professionals, who approved the protocols necessary to move forward with allowing visitors on a very limited scale based on guidelines set forth by the CDC. Some of those guidelines consist of health screening questionnaires, face coverings at all times, scheduled time between visitors, vastly reduced numbers of visitors permitted, and limited exposure to campus buildings. Walk-in visits are not allowed and we are not permitting students to visit from CDC restricted areas.

If you have any questions about our guidelines moving forward, take a look at the updates to the Plans to Reopen Allegheny College site. We continue to do our best to update the site, although things are moving quickly in real-time, so we appreciate your patience and attention as any changes are needed.

Sincerely,

The team at the Allegheny College Health Agency

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Individual Responsibility Requirements for Students Leaving Campus Overnight

• Students who leave campus overnight are required to quarantine in their room upon their return. If the student has a roommate, they will quarantine in a designated quarantine area, such as Edwards Hall or Allegheny Hall.
• Upon return to campus, the student will be asked to quarantine for four days and then get a test on day five (or the next testing date after day five, as testing is not available every day). Quarantine continues until a negative result is returned or 14 days have passed.
• Important Exception: any student traveling to a state that is currently on the Pennsylvania quarantine list is required to quarantine on campus for 14 days with no option to end quarantine early with a test.

Dear Allegheny Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As part of our ongoing effort to keep you informed about our campus reopening, and to respond to questions we have received in the past two days, we write with updated information regarding the COVID situation on campus. To be clear, in general we are doing amazingly well, and we have a very low infection rate (24 total positives out of 3,356). Because we are doing everything in our power to keep the campus safe and healthy and open for in-person living and learning for those who wish, we are taking additional steps today to give us the confidence that we can isolate cases and eliminate community spread.

Because we uncovered, during last week’s tests, a cluster of positives among a connected group of students, and because we have understood that this arose due to travel off campus, effective immediately, and until we have evidence through testing that we have contained our cluster situation, we are adding the precaution of extending the on-campus quarantine period until further notice. This means students may not leave campus for any reason — including, for example, trips to area businesses, jobs, or any other off-campus locations. While this is disappointing for all of us, given the current status of our clustering, we believe that this is the best way to maintain safety for the entire community.

Additionally, given the clustering and ongoing reported violations of the Gator Pledge, effective immediately, we will no longer give warnings to those students who are found to have violated the pledge. This does not mean that every report leads to action; but should a report uncover a true violation of the Pledge, students in violation will be expected to leave campus and continue their courses remotely from home. While the overwhelming majority of students are taking the health guidelines seriously, unfortunately, there are already a few students who have disrespected these guidelines and violated the Gator Pledge; they are being held accountable through the student conduct process and being removed from campus. It is unfortunate that a handful of students have negatively impacted the experience for the majority of students who have adhered to the guidelines in the strictest possible way. We must reiterate that there can be no gatherings, no parties, no visitors to the residence halls from off campus or other behaviors that put the health and safety of the community at risk. In general, the only person you should be within six feet of without a facial covering is your roommate.

There is simply no room for non-compliance, and our response throughout the semester has been and will continue to be quick and firm, with no room for leniency. We urge families to remind your students to comply; if not, they risk jeopardizing the on-campus experience for every single Allegheny student and our faculty and staff.

A few students have rightfully asked why, after the campus quarantine ends, we are planning to bring admissions visitors to campus, including athletic recruits, when we are doing everything in our power to protect the safety of our campus community. We want to be clear that we are only doing so when the campus quarantine ends, and that we are doing so under the strict guidance of our epidemiologists and medical professionals. The Office of Admissions convened a committee over the summer made up of faculty, staff, and students to create a plan to safely host in-person visitors on campus. With approval from ACHA, the committee examined and implemented the protocols necessary to move forward with allowing visitors on a very limited scale based on guidelines set forth by the CDC and ACHA. Some of those guidelines consist of health screening questionnaires, face coverings at all times, scheduled time between visitors, vastly reduced numbers of visitors permitted, and limited exposure to campus buildings. Walk-in visits are not allowed, and we are not permitting students to visit from CDC restricted areas.

Thank you for doing everything you can to help keep the Allegheny and Meadville communities as safe as possible.

Hilary L. Link, President
Gabrielle Morrow, M.D., Allegheny College Health Agency

View full archive of CARES Act Student Aid Reports

In accordance with Section 18004(e) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act” or the “Act”), The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (“HEERF”) contained in Section 18004 of the CARES Act, and the guidance issued by the United States Department of Education, including Office of Postsecondary Education’s guidance dated May 6, 2020, Allegheny College submits this report concerning the first award Allegheny College received under the HEERF consisting of funds for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.

1. Acknowledgement of Funding and Certification

Allegheny College reviewed, signed and returned the U.S. Department of Educations’ Certification and Agreement for these funds on April 14, 2020. Allegheny College received a grant award notification on April 23, 2020. As required by the certification, Allegheny College will use no less than fifty percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants directly to students.

2. Funds Awarded for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students

Allegheny College received $871,541 under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19.

3. Emergency Financial Aid Grants Distributed to Students to Date Under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act

Of the $871,541 Allegheny College received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19, Allegheny College had distributed $720,792 as of July 7, 2020, and an additional $9,200 as of August 20th, 2020, bringing the total to $729,992.

4. Eligible Students

Allegheny College has approximately 1,400 students as of the date of this report that are eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 by filing a valid FAFSA for the 2019-2020 academic year and, thus, are eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.

5. Eligible Students Receiving CARES Act Aid

Allegheny College has distributed funds it received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act designated for distribution to students impacted by campus disruptions due to COVID-19 to 974 students as of July 7, 2020 and another 12 students as of August 20th, 2020, bringing the total to 986.

6. Distribution Method

Funds Already Distributed

In order to qualify for Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act, Allegheny College students must first be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and incur expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the coronavirus. Of those students that qualified, Allegheny College chose to provide an initial disbursement of Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students who qualified for needs-based room and board grants under Allegheny’s internal criteria because it determined those students were most in need those and necessarily incurred COVID-19 pandemic related expenses following the loss of on-campus room and board.

In order to calculate these students’ COVID-19 related expenses, Allegheny College used its institutional policy for estimating needs-based commuter student room and board costs for the remaining 40% of the spring semester. This calculation resulted in an Emergency Financial Aid Grant maximum award of $800 per student.

In order to distribute this grant as expeditiously as possible, beginning on April 13, 2020, Allegheny College provided Emergency Federal Aid Grant relief to students in the same manner as it had previously provided institutional need-based aid, through students’ online accounts. Because Allegheny College began providing qualifying relief funds to qualifying students prior to Allegheny College’s receipt of any CARES Act funding, in accordance with United States Department of Education guidance, Allegheny College reimbursed itself from a portion of the CARES Act funding it received in the amount it advanced to its students in accordance with the above methodology.

Funds Reserved for Future Distribution

Allegheny College has reserved $186,192 for eligible students that incur other additional expenses related to the disruption of on-campus instruction as a result of COVID-19. The reserve amount in Emergency Financial Aid Grants for students under Section 18004(a)(1) may be applied for using the Success Grant application available on the Allegheny College’s Dean of Students webpage. As of July 7, 2020 the balance in the reserve for eligible students is $150,749. Allegheny College has not finalized its distribution methodology for these funds and reserves its right to modify this report as needed.

7. Communication to Students Concerning the Emergency Financial Aid Grants

All students who were enrolled in the 2020 spring semester, as well as those enrolled in the 2020 fall semester, were notified of the opportunity to apply for this funding via email. Students are asked to include in the application the amount and brief description of the expense incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is used to determine an award amount. For students already issued Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1), the expense must be in addition to the expense for which they already received funds.

I am excited to start welcoming you to campus over the next few weeks. We have been working since students left campus in March to prepare your rooms and classrooms for the safest possible fall semester. We remain hopeful that we will be able to complete the semester in person, but we are also making plans for the possibility that classes may need to be remote. I have received several questions about plans for leaving campus and the winter break, so I am sharing information to assist you with your planning.

As shared previously, our current academic calendar is for on-campus learning to end November 20 with students returning home on November 21 and resuming classes remotely for the remainder of the semester. Students and families should have a plan in place, though, for how students would get home or to another location in the event that the College has to end on-campus learning prior to the end of the semester. If the campus needs to close, we will work with students as they make appropriate travel plans and continue their academic work remotely.

Students should plan to take all of their belongings when they leave campus on November 21. For students who are not able to complete academic work remotely, housing will be available on campus between November 22 and December 11 (the end of finals); students electing to remain will not receive the 10% housing discount provided to students for fall. Students will need to complete an application to remain on campus by September 30, plan to be consolidated into one building, and agree to stay on campus for the duration of the semester. In particular, to protect the safety of our campus, students staying through to December 11 must stay on campus through Thanksgiving Break as well. Limited funding may be available to support students through Gator Success Grants, the CARES Act and other resources. Please click here to get more information and to submit an application for a Gator Success Grant or CARES Act funding.

Between December 12 and January 18 — when there are no classes in session — residence halls will be closed, and there will be no student housing on campus. Limited funding may be available to support students through Gator Success Grants, the CARES Act and other resources. Please click here to get more information and to submit an application for a Gator Success Grant or CARES Act funding.

From January 18 through February 19 (the “January” one-course module), housing will be available on campus for students who are not able to work remotely; students that are on campus during this time will not receive the 10% housing discount provided to students for spring. Students will need to complete an application to remain on campus, plan to be consolidated into one building, and agree to stay on campus for the duration of Module 1 (January term) between January 18 and February 19. Limited funding may be available to support students through Gator Success Grants and the CARES Act. Please click here to get more information and to submit an application for a Gator Success Grant or CARES Act funding.

Move-in for spring will begin around February 15 in anticipation of the start of classes on February 22. Please note that this may need to be adapted to again accommodate testing, quarantine and staggered move-in dates. This will be evaluated as we get closer to February. Unless you are approved to be here for the January–February Module, please do not plan to arrive back to campus before February 15 at the earliest.

We hope having this information early will assist you in planning for a successful year. I look forward to seeing you in person very soon.

April Thompson
Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students