Dear Campus Community,
The Capitol Tech team of faculty and staff continue to find new ways to serve our students no matter where they are currently. These improvements include updating the financial aid information available to students, disseminating organization tips for students to remain on-track while learning remotely, and staying up-to-date on the latest online learning tools and safety protocols.
The CARES Act, signed by President Trump, provides funds to each university to assist students directly affected by COVID-19 in the form of cash grants. Capitol Tech's Financial Aid team is actively working on a strategy to best use these limited funds to assist students impacted the most. In addition, federal law allows the Financial Aid Team to recalculate financial need in cases of special circumstances not considered by the Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA). Students and their families who suffer significant losses of income due to temporary or long term loss of employment or who incur significant medical expenses not covered by insurance, such as those caused by COVID-19, may complete the Special Circumstance Appeal Form on this page to appeal for a review of their financial aid. In these cases, Capitol Tech may substitute 2020 income for 2018 income currently being used on the 2020/2021 FAFSA. For more information or to set up a meeting, contact the Financial Aid team at finaid@captechu.edu.
Besides the financial health of students and their families, Capitol Tech is also taking measures to support students' mental health. The department of Student Life has several posts on its Instagram page detailing the many ways students in crisis or students feeling detached from the campus community can reach out to a member of Student Life. In addition to the regular additions of interesting and uplifting content disseminated by Capitol Tech's marketing team, Student Life is also developing a communications campaign to engage students with exciting online events, interesting challenges to fight-off boredom, and other positive messages.
Capitol Tech's Online Learning department is also working diligently to install security updates, monitor potential threats, and upload quality online lessons while remaining available to assist students with their impromptu questions and technical issues. As an essential component to the current online learning plan, this team has protected the institution's Zoom account with consistent updates, despite threats to the platform's security reported across the world. I am glad to report that Capitol Tech continues toward our semester goals.
Brad Sims, PhD
President, Capitol Technology University