A Note from Skagit Valley College

We’re Online with You!

Skagit Valley College announces Summer Quarter will be offered mostly online

Yes, Skagit Valley College is open! We’re just doing things a little differently. Our key focus is to meet you where you are right now. We’ve adapted our instruction, services, and resources to meet your needs and support the health and safety of the SVC community.

Skagit Valley College is gearing up for Summer Quarter! Your path to a new career or transfer degree starts at SVC. Enjoy hands-on learning and labs in several of our career programs as well as a welcoming and supportive online learning environment. If you need help paying for college, additional financial aid, scholarships, and emergency funds are available!

Summer Quarter classes will start Monday, July 6 and will be offered online and/or in a controlled lab environment.

To get started, visit www.skagit.edu/summer-2020/ Registration dates are as follows:

• Registration for Continuing students is going on right now;
• Registration for New Advised/Applied students starts today, May 20;
• Summer Quarter classes start Monday, July 6;
• Trending programs for Summer include High School completion, Spanish GED and computer classes, and university transfer courses.

New to Online Learning?

We understand you may be new to online learning. SVC has a free course designed to help you! Our faculty have developed a class to teach you how to use the technology, tools, and applications you need to be successful in today’s online learning environment. This free course is available in both English and Spanish. For more information, contact Counseling and Advising, [email protected]

We are also excited to tell you more about UChat, our new real-time chat feature. Visit www.skagit.edu and hover over the “Chat with SVC Student Services” icon on the left to learn more about SVC courses and programs. You can submit a general question to Student Services or reach a specific office by clicking “Chat with Me!”

Need Help Paying for College? www.skagit.edu/financialaid

Don’t let the challenge of paying for classes prevent you from realizing your dream of a college education. Additional financial aid, scholarships, and new emergency funding are available!

• CARES Act Funding

SVC’s Financial Aid Office is in the process of distributing $1.16 million in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities Act (CARES Act) emergency funds to eligible students. While CARES Act funds are restricted to students eligible for Title IV funding only, the College is committed to assisting our Undocumented students as well, and will be using other institutional funds to provide emergency funds to eligible students who have completed a WASFA application and have remaining unmet need, in alignment with the same awarding criteria used for CARES Act funds.

• Washington College Grant

Currently, the Washington College Grant (WCG) assists in covering tuition costs for resident students whose families earn up to 70 percent of the state’s median family income (ex: income of $64,000 for a family of four). Starting Summer Quarter, program eligibility and funding is expanding.

WCG will now also partially cover students whose families make between 70 and 100 percent of the median income (ex: income up to about $92,000 for a family of four).

In addition to eligibility expansion, full funding for the WCG program is now guaranteed for all eligible students beginning Summer 2020. Now, eligible students will receive WCG funds regardless of when they apply for aid or which quarters they attend. 

Eligibility for WCG is determined based on the completion of a state or federal financial aid application, which is what SVC uses to determine eligibility for all financial aid. Students who are eligible to complete the FAFSA should do so, and those who are ineligible to complete the FAFSA, may complete the WASFA.

• Emergency Funding https://www.skagit.edu/financial-aid/types-of-aid/emergency-assistance/

Student Services and SVC Foundation team up each year to assist students with SVC’s Emergency Funding program, which is fundraised by the Foundation. In the last four years, nearly $200,000 in emergency assistance was provided to students, and about double that amount if you include Childcare Assistance. These funds have helped students with: 

• Transportation;
• Food assistance;
• Eviction and utility shut off notices;
• Emergency housing-including sudden homelessness or job loss;
• Unexpected medical bills.

As Federal CARES Act emergency funding kicks in for many Skagit Valley College students, hundreds of our most vulnerable students in the Basic Education for Adults program are not covered by these funds. SVC Foundation raises important funds that help meet the needs of our BEdA students.

Need Access to Technology? https://subjectguides.library.skagit.edu/Checkout

If you need access to a laptop or hotspot to support your studies, the SVC Libraries at the Mount Vernon and Whidbey Island campuses are loaning laptops and hotspots to help students succeed! To check for availability and information, email [email protected] or visit http://library.skagit.edu.

SVC has also increased access to WiFi at several parking lots at both campuses:

Mount Vernon Campus:

• Laura Angst Hall (Lot L1) and Joe Reeves Hall (Lot L2)

Whidbey Island Campus:  

• WiFi from SVC and the Sno-Isle Library cover the parking lots without any extensions. 

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