ABOUT THIS FUNDING

The COVID-19 Summer Relief funds are part of the GSS's normal annual budget, and would typically be used to award travel grants and organize events. However, since travel and events have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, the GSS has chosen to continue to repurpose these funds as COVID-19 Summer Relief funding.

The total number of awards granted will be determined by the available funding, the number of applications received, and the demonstrated need of the applicants.

This COVID-19 Summer Relief funding is separate from parking, housing, and meal plan reimbursements that may be issued by UMass Dartmouth, and is also independent of the federal CARES Act individual recovery rebate. The COVID-19 Summer Relief funding process is also independent of previous relief funding efforts by the GSS and as such all applicants must submit a new application to be considered for this funding.

The COVID-19 Relief funding is considered "Disaster Relief Payments," not taxable income (IRC Section 139). If the funding is issued with your university paycheck, taxes will not be withheld. If you have any questions regarding COVID-19 Relief funding when preparing your annual income tax return, talk to your tax professional.

To the best of our knowledge, this COVID-19 Summer Relief funding should not affect taxes, financial aid status, international student status, fellowship status, etc. For more info, see IRC Section 139. If you have questions about how the GSS's COVID-19 Summer Relief Funding will affect your situation, please email the Graduate Studies Office (apgradstudies@umassd.edu).

COVID-19 RELIEF FUNDING COMMITTEE

On Thursday April 2nd 2020, the GSS Executive Committee established an ad hoc "COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee" (pursuant to the GSS Bylaws section V.D.1). On June 2nd, the current 2020-2021 senate voted to continue the COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee and to allocate additional funds to this committee.

• • The purpose of the COVID-19 Relief Funding (CRF) Committee is to review and vote on submitted COVID-19 Relief funding applications in an efficient, proactive, and expedited manner.

  • The CRF Committee will be comprised of any current Senator who wishes to join, as well as a limited number of non-voting non-Senator UMassD graduate students. All committee members must be able to dedicate a significant amount of time to reading, reviewing, and voting on COVID-19 Summer Relief funding applications.

  • Committee members are not eligible for COVID-19 Relief funding. If any committee member wishes to apply for funding, said member must first relinquish their committee seat.

The CRF Committee will read all applications on a rolling basis to ensure that they are complete. Please be sure to submit a complete application with all necessary information and acceptable receipts. The committee will only consider for approval complete applications.  Please review the criteria for acceptable expenses and receipts in the APPLICATION COMPONENTS section.

FUNDING ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for the GSS's COVID-19 Summer Relief Funding you must be:

• • A current UMass Dartmouth graduate student from any college, school, department, or program

  • Currently enrolled in a degree program for Fall 2020 - per the university's request, please register for classes for the Fall 2020 semester prior to applying.

    • Students seeking graduate certificates are NOT eligible to apply, email the GSS if you have questions. 

  • Experiencing financial hardship due to the unusual and unexpected circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic

  • Not currently a member of the GSS's' COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee

  • Have not previously received $1000 from any university relief source. University relief funding ​from any source is capped to $1000 per graduate student. ​Therefore, if you have previously applied to other sources of funding and received $1000 or more - you are ineligible for this current funding opportunity.

Note that students who have already received GSS funding this year (e.g., past COVID-19 Relief Funds distributed by the GSS or funds for virtual conferences/workshops) are still eligible for this funding. ​However, due to limited funding and equity among graduate students, the receipt of previous GSS awards and university CARES Act funding MUST BE considered by the CRF Committee when evaluating COVID-19 Summer Relief funding applications. ​Each graduate student is subject to a $1000 cap in relief funding. ​Once applications are processed by the GSS, a funding dispersement request is made to the university. The university will only approve graduate students for $1000 from any funding source from the university. If you have already received $1000 in relief funding from one or more sources you are ineligible to receive additional funding. 

APPLICATION COMPONENTS

To help you prepare in advance, application questions include: 

• Your ​UMassD email address​ (all official correspondence will be sent to this UMassD email address) 

• Your current mailing address. If approved for relief funding you will receive a reimbursement check from the university to this address 

• Your ​Employee ID​ if you have one (i.e. if you receive a UMassD paycheck, and you can log into HRDirect) 

  • If you have a valid Employee ID with the university you may choose to receive your reimbursement through direct deposit  

    • This is optional, and will only be used to process your reimbursement with your usual paycheck 

    • You will be asked to indicate whether you have ​direct deposit​ set up with the university (if you have direct deposit, the COVID-19 Summer Relief funding will be issued with your paycheck via direct deposit). If you don't have direct deposit the COVID-19 Summer relief funds will be issued via check and mailed to your current mailing address

    • Be sure to ​verify your direct deposit information​, especially if you have changed your bank recently! Incorrect information will result in a significant delay of your reimbursement.

    • Make sure your info is up to date in the following TWO places: https://my.umassd.edu​ --> HRDirect --> Direct Deposit, AND https://my.umassd.edu​ --> COIN --> Finance Center --> Enroll In Direct Deposit 

• A ​description of your coronavirus-caused situation​ (the unusual, unexpected circumstance caused by the COVID-19 pandemic) 

• A ​description of your financial need​ (explain what expenses you can't afford due to this circumstance caused by the COVID-19 pandemic), ​with supporting documentation 

  • Recall that ​the COVID-19 Summer Relief funding is NEED-BASED

• An ​itemized list of expenses​ (including the dollar amounts) for which you seek reimbursement ​with supporting documentation 

  • Please note: this funding CANNOT be used to reimburse the following expenses. These criteria were decided by the committee to increase turn around time and to decrease the amount of personal information given to the GSS

    • University tuition and/or fee payments

    • Medical bills and medications - while we realize applicants may have contracted COVID-19 and incurred related expenses but we hope to aid these students in other essential purchases that would not require personal information to reimburse)

    • Electronics (laptop computers etc.)

  • Acceptable expenses may include

    • Groceries

    • Paid utility bills

    • Paid rent receipts

    • Cleaning supplies and PPE

    • Travel (example: necessary relocation)

    • Other 

• Be prepared to also submit receipts for expenses section 

  • Receipts must be clear and contain a date between June 1 and the date your application was submitted.

  • Bills will NOT be accepted - only PROOF OF PAYMENT

  • ACCEPTABLE FORMS OF RECEIPTS MAY INCLUDE:

    • Photos of paper receipts

    • O nline receipts 

    • Venmo transfers to roommate/family

    • Screenshots of payment on bank statements 

  • If supporting documents are a shared expense, please describe how this expense is divided among roommates/family and list your share of the expense in the application.

Please keep in mind: 

• This application for COVID-19 Summer Relief funding is ​capped at $100 per student​. 

• Each applicant ​must submit their own application​. Even if another applicant experiences the same hardship, combined applications will not be considered.  

• Only FULLY COMPLETE applications will be considered – the committee will not reach out to applicants if an application is incomplete.

HOW TO APPLY FOR FUNDS

1. You MUST be a UMass Dartmouth graduate student currently enrolled in a degree program for Fall 2020 to apply. See the ​FUNDING ELIGIBILITY section for details. 

2. The COVID-19 Relief funding application is a Google Form. 

   • You will need to ​sign in with a Google account to access the application​. Your Google account information is NOT recorded in any part of the application, nor can the GSS see your Google account information. (Google requires an account to upload the required supporting documentation.) The GSS will not contact you through the Gmail address used to submit the application. 

3. FILL OUT THE ​COVID-19 SUMMER RELIEF FUNDING APPLICATION. If you are ​unable to fill out the application form​ (due to weak internet, no electronic device to submit the application, can't create a Google account, etc.) you may ​email the GSS (gss@umassd.edu)​ and we will provide you with a text version of the application. ​PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR PREFERRED CONTACT INFORMATION IN YOUR EMAIL, IF EMAIL ISN'T YOUR PREFERRED METHOD OF COMMUNICATION! 

APPLICATION EVALUATIONS AND DECISIONS

• The COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee agrees to adhere to all policies and procedures of the University as well as all local, state, and federal anti-discrimination statutes.  The COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee shall not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other category protected under local, state, and federal anti-discrimination statutes.

• All applicant information will be kept strictly confidential. Applications will only be read as necessary to determine the need, and will only be shared with key university personnel as required to process the applications.

• The COVID-19 Relief Funding Committee will meet on Monday 7/27/2020 - Friday 7/31/2020 to evaluate and vote on all submitted applications. To respect the privacy and confidentiality of the applicants, this meeting cannot be open. Non-Senator committee members are not able to vote (per the GSS Bylaws), however they are encouraged to actively discuss the deidentified applications.

• Applications submitted any time within the application window will be given equal consideration (i.e. the funding is NOT "first come, first served).

• Applications will be evaluated for demonstrated financial need.

• Applicants will be notified of final decisions by FRIDAY 7/31/2020 (see the FUNDING TIMELINE section for the most up-to-date deadlines) via email to their UMassD email address.

• The number of awards granted will be determined by the available funding, the number of applications received, and the demonstrated need of the applicants.

• The GSS will post the summarized results of the COVID-19 Summer Relief funding initiative to this web page when completed.

RECEIVING AWARDED FUNDS

• All awarded funds will be issued as a reimbursement.

• Reimbursements will be issued as a one-time check, or with the student employee's university paycheck if the awardee receives a paycheck from UMass Dartmouth.

  • If you are a student employee with direct deposit, the COVID-19 Summer Relief funding will be issued with your paycheck via direct deposit.

  • If you aren't a student employee with direct deposit, the COVID-19 Relief reimbursement will be issued via check and mailed to your preferred address.

• Awardees do not need to repay the awarded COVID-19 Summer Relief funds.