If your family is experiencing a reduction in income or resources due to the COVID-19 pandemic or for any reason, Ohio University is here to help. If you have not yet filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2020-21 aid year, you can file at https://fafsa.gov. The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships has an online Change of Income application for admitted undergraduate students. In order to complete this application, students must have already filed a FAFSA, been awarded aid, and have completed verification, if required. The Change of Income application allows families, who have an EFC greater than zero, to enter estimated 2020 tax year income. The estimated 2020 income information will be compared to your actual 2018 information provided on the FAFSA. If your 2020 income estimates show a reduction, your FAFSA will be updated to reflect those estimates and your financial aid eligibility will be reviewed based on the updated FAFSA. To request access to the Change of Income form, contact the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships. Our office is committed to priority processing of Change of Income applications for students affected by COVID-19. Upon completion of the online application, students should provide the signature page and supporting documents as soon as possible. We recommend you use our Secure Upload Portal. This is a secure method to transmit your documents to our office. When using this portal, we recommend that you do not use a Safari browser. You can also submit documents by fax (740.593.4140) or by mail to:

Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships

1 Ohio University

Chubb Hall 020

Athens, OH  45701

Our priority processing timeline is two to three weeks.

The Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships manages the Federal Work-Study program and Ohio University's Program to Aid Career Exploration (PACE). Some Work-Study and PACE supervisors are providing remote work options to their student employees. However, remote work is not available in all positions. Work-Study and PACE supervisors are currently reaching out to their assigned students regarding fall semester work options. If you do not hear from your supervisor by the second week of the semester, please reach out to him or her. You can contact our office if you have difficulty reaching your supervisor. 

Work-Study students assigned to positions that do not offer remote work will be contacted to determine if they are interested in working during the fall semester. We will work to temporarily reassign students to positions offering remote work. We hope to begin reassigning students in late-September. Students who would rather not work in the fall may be eligible to work additional hours in the spring semester. Students are only eligible to hold one Work-Study position at a time. PACE students without remote work options may be eligible to work additional hours during the spring semester with approval from their supervisors. The maximum number of hours a student can work in a week is 25. Additionally, students must stay within their Work-Study award or PACE maximum hour limit of 300. 

Students who are receiving financial aid due to an approved SAP appeal and choose not to attend during the fall semester must make sure they drop all courses prior to the start of the semester, which is August 24. Please notify our office by e-mail that you do not plan to attend, we will move your semester of eligibility to the spring semester. If you do not plan to attend for the entire 2020-21 academic year, you will need to complete a new academic plan when you intend to return. Additionally, you must have been meeting the terms and conditions of your SAP approval after your last semester of attendance. 

Ohio University has an Emergency Microgrant program available to help OHIO students who are experiencing financial difficulty. These funds are designated to help alleviate the short-term financial needs of students across all of OHIO’s campuses. Visit the Microgrant website for more information and to apply. 

Ohio University has received federal funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. For the spring semester 2020, we distributed $8,353,433 in emergency grants from this Act through the OHIO CARES Relief Fund. The purpose of these grants is to assist students with expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the Coronavirus pandemic. These expenses can include food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care.

The fall semester OHIO CARES Relief Fund opened the week of August 17 and closed August 24. Eligible students were emailed during that time. OHIO CARES Relief Fund grants were awarded on September 11. In general, students must have been enrolled full-time on one of OHIO’s campuses in the fall semester 2020 and be eligible for federal financial aid by August 24th. Federal guidelines indicate that students who were exclusively studying online before the COVID-19 pandemic are ineligible. In accordance with federal guidance, distribution of the OHIO CARES Relief Fund was prioritized to eligible students with the most significant financial need. Additionally, Ohio University focused on meeting the technology needs of applicants. All applicants enrolled in, at least, half-time hours and reported having expenses related to COVID-19 received an OHIO CARES Relief grant between $100 and $500. Please visit the CARES Act Reporting website to view CARES distribution details. 

Ohio University created the OHIO Get Connected Grant, a one-time, $750 award to help meet technology needs for all full-time, first-year, degree-seeking undergraduate students at our Athens and regional campuses. Students are not required to submit an application to receive funds. The $750 will be automatically applied to students’ accounts at the start of fall semester or at the time they enroll full-time. Get Connected grants will continue to be awarded to full-time students through Friday, September 4. Students must provide their final, official high school transcript to Undergraduate Admissions to receive the Get Connected Grant for the fall semester. Students who receive the Get Connected Grant, but drop enrollment below full-time enrollment will have the grant reversed, which will create a balance on their accounts. For more information, visit the Technology Resources website.

Fall semester enrollment as of midnight on September 11, 2020 will be used to determine eligibility for grants, scholarships, and any undisbursed Federal Student Loans. If students previously received a grant or scholarship based on full-time enrollment, but decided to drop one or more courses, those disbursed funds may be reduced or canceled due to enrollment less than full-time. Students with adjustments to their financial aid based on dropped courses will be notified via university e-mail.

Students should regularly log in to the OHIO Student Center and check their To Do List for any documents needed to complete the processing of their financial aid. The best way to submit documents to our office is using our Secure Upload Portal. This link allows students to log in with their OHIO ID and password and submit documents to our office. You can also fax documents to 740.593.4140 or send them by mail to:

Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships

1 Ohio University

Chubb Hall 020

Athens, OH  45701

Please do not submit documents that contain personally identifiable information (PII) via e-mail. E-mail does not offer a secure transmission of this information.