Eastern Wyoming College is sharing the following campus updates for Wednesday, March 25, 2020.

Eastern Wyoming College students who are struggling with non-academic issues and would like information about community support agencies, please contact Dr. Debbie Ochsner, Dean of Faculty/Student Services at debbie.ochsner@ewc.wy.edu, 307-532-8221, or 307-575-1121 for further referral information. 

The Douglas Campus has set up a virtual tutoring center for students who need tutoring. Students should contact Margaret Farley at margaret.farley@ewc.wy.edu for further information and access to the Canvas lab.

News from Student Services:

Financial Aid:

Financial Aid Office staff are still working and processing your aid for this term and for next year. If you have questions or concerns, please contact our main office at 307.532.8224 or financialaid@ewc.wy.edu or contact us individually:

• Holly West (general questions, VA benefits, Work Study): 307.532.8224 or Holly.West@ewc.wy.edu
• Terri Hauf (scholarship questions, federal verification/documentation questions):  307.532.8326 or Terri.Hauf@ewc.wy.edu
• Shanna Vargas (Hathaway questions, federal verification/documentation questions): 307.532.8327 or Shanna.Vargas@ewc.wy.edu
• Susan Stephenson (questions on impact to aid from withdrawing, appeal questions): 307.532.8325 or Susan.Stephenson@ewc.wy.edu

Please contact the Financial Aid Office BEFORE deciding to withdraw from all classes this semester. A full withdrawal can have serious consequences for what you might owe back for this semester and your aid eligibility in future semesters. While our office can take into consideration the impact COVID-19 is having on your success with appeals of aid suspensions, there is NO leeway for exempting students from owing back federal aid from a full withdrawal during the term. Remember, completing even ONE full-term class will prevent you owing any federal aid back to any federal aid program.

Students are encouraged to continue submitting documentation to the Financial Aid Office electronically via EWC’s secure file transfer email system.  You must register with your email and set a password first, but then can send and view email with the Financial Aid Office, and be assured that your personal information is encrypted and secure. For more information and to register, see: https://ewc.wy.edu/future-students/financial-aid/secure-email/.

Financial Aid refund checks will be mailed until further notice.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced on Friday, March 20, that the office of Federal Student Aid is providing student loan relief to student borrowers during the COVID-19 national emergency. All borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% for a period of at least 60 days.  Track your student loan debt at StudentAid.gov.

Residence Life:

As mentioned in a previous email, EWC is hoping to open a limited number of spaces in the residence halls on April 13. The primary intention is to allow cosmetology and welding students to come back to finish their hours.

We understand that students outside these majors may need housing as well. If you have extenuating circumstances that a) prevent you from returning to your home country or b) could result in homelessness, please respond to this message by Monday, March 30 at noon.

While we cannot guarantee housing for anyone at this time, we do want to take all factors into account as we consider the assignment process.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Student Success Center:

Online tutoring through NetTutor is available from a link found in every course in Canvas. Also, if you are used to working with specific tutors in our Student Success Center, you can request appointments by clicking on your Student Success Center (SSC) course within Canvas.  Click on Torrington Campus Peer Mentor-Tutors, then click on “Contact them”. Zoom tutor sessions are available if you and your tutor have the capability. Please contact Julie Sherbeyn at julie.sherbeyn@ewc.wy.edu or 307-575-5083 if you have further questions and look for updates in the announcement section of the SSC course in Canvas.

Eastern Wyoming College students, the deadline to withdraw from Spring 2020 courses has been extended to Monday, May 4th, 2020 at 4:00pm. Please contact the registrar’s office, if you have questions.

The EWC Directory can be found at the following link to reach any EWC employee. Employees are working from home but are available by phone and email: https://ewc.wy.edu/directory/

All messages and alerts can be found at the following link: https://ewc.wy.edu/alerts/