COVID-19 Information for Students

Dear Charter Oak State College Students,
Today, the Board of Regents voted to require all students who participate in on-campus activities this fall to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That means if you plan on attending class or extracurricular activities in-person, you must first get vaccinated.

What this means for online Charter Oak State College students is that should you visit our building/campus, and are unable to present proof of vaccination status, you will be required to wear a mask.

The vaccines that are currently authorized in the United States are safe, highly effective, and critical to resuming normal operations at our campuses this fall.

If you have not already done so, now is the time to get vaccinated. With more infectious, more severe variants becoming more and more prevalent, getting your shot is the best way to protect yourself and your family.

• View the Connecticut Vaccine Portal to find a FREE vaccine provider near you (ct.gov)

More information is available on the CSCU website.

• View Vaccine Requirement FAQs (ct.edu)

We will follow up with additional information on how students can document their vaccination status prior to the beginning of the semester.

Sincerely,
Ed Klonoski, President

We wish you a successful term 2. Unfortunately, Covid 19 is still with us. We hope that many of you have been able to get vaccinated and that the worst is behind us. If you or your family become ill and you need extra time to submit assignments reach out to your instructor right away and reach out to our Covid hotline 860-515-3702 or email registrar@charteroak.edu. We will be asking for documentation of your illness so be prepared to provide it.

Dear Students,

Welcome back!  The staff and faculty at Charter Oak State College wish you a healthy and happy new year.

As we look ahead, we are excited of the possibilities 2021 has to offer.  We want you to have a successful semester and recognize the added stress that Covid continues to put on our students. Trying to manage work, family responsibilities, and schooling during the pandemic can feel quite overwhelming.  In consideration of the circumstances, we have asked the faculty to be flexible and allow some leniency.  If there is a time during the term that you need an extra day or two to get your work done, reach out to your professor to come to a reasonable agreement.  Of course, in fairness to them and to the other students, if you need more than one or two days you will need to follow the standard policies for requesting an extension.

If you become ill, please reach out to us right away.  Use our Covid hotline 860-515-3702 or email registrar@charteroak.edu

Hopefully, with the vaccination combined with masks and social distancing, 2021 will be a much healthier and safer year. Keep up the great work!

Sincerely,

Shirley M. Adams, Ph.D.

Provost

If you plan to visit our campus for any reason, you must call ahead, make an appointment and follow the guidelines in the COVID-19 Student Policy document.

COVID-19 Student Policy

As the pandemic continues, Charter Oak State College will do everything it can to keep our students, faculty, staff, and administrators as safe (and informed) as possible.

Charter Oak has a phone line and email address dedicated directly to those affected by the virus. If you are affected by the virus, please use the information below to let us know, especially if it is impacted your ability to do your course work.

If it is impacting your ability to submit your course work on time, you will need to provide documentation of your illness along with your request for additional time.

Pandemic Line: 860-515-3702
Pandemic Email: registrar@charteroak.edu

Remember, we can best serve ourselves and our community by keeping ourselves healthy, mentally and physically. Don’t ignore “quarantine fatigue” if it is manifesting itself in unhealthy ways. If you are feeling high anxiety or depression or if you just need to speak to someone, help is a phone call away. The Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 (TTY 1-800-846-8517) is always available. I encourage you to call if you need to and know that you are not alone. We are all going through this together.

Message from the Bursar and Financial Aid Offices

Dear Students,
We understand that financial stresses related to COVID-19 are a very real issue for you. To better support all of our students we have been working hard to introduce flexibility to our tuition related policies during these unprecedented times. The U.S. Department of Education has also taken recent action which compliments these efforts. We hope that this is helpful for you and your family as you continue your studies with us. Please note the following as it may pertain to and assist you over the upcoming weeks:

• All borrowers with federally held student loans (Federal Direct Loans, FFEL and Perkins) will automatically have their interest rates set to 0% through September 30, 2021.
• In addition, each of these borrowers will have the option to suspend their payments through September 30, 2021, to allow them greater flexibility during the national emergency. This will allow borrowers to temporarily stop their payments without worrying about accruing interest. To request this forbearance, borrowers should contact their loan servicer online or by phone.

Sincerely from us both,
Ralph Brasure
Financial Aid Director
Yolanda Pacheco
Bursar