Penn will provide grant to replace summer savings expectation for aided students next year

Penn will provide undergraduate students whose financial aid packages include a summer savings expectation with a supplemental COVID-19 Summer Savings Grant for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Penn President Amy Gutmann wrote in an email to all undergraduates on Tuesday morning that the summer savings grant will help mitigate the loss of expected income due to canceled summer jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic. The increase in financial aid applies to both incoming and returning aided undergraduate students, the email read.

The summer savings expectation is a student's expected contribution toward tuition payments. The standard summer savings expectation is $3000 for first years and $3200 for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

“While some employers continue to offer remote work — including Penn’s summer work-study program — various other opportunities are no longer available, leaving undergraduate students and their families who are eligible for need-based financial aid without essential summer income that they had been anticipating,” Gutmann wrote.

Gutmann wrote that aided undergraduate students must complete their standard financial aid application to receive the grant in their 2020-2021 packages.

Student Registration and Financial Services has delayed the recommended deadline for undergraduate students to submit their 2020-2021 financial aid applications by a month, according to the SRFS website. The new recommended deadline for completing the financial aid application is May 15.

“Penn is one of the few institutions that can continue to provide undergraduate students with grant-based financial aid. While also working to find ways to balance our budget, we are committed to adjusting our practices to meet this moment and provide additional support wherever possible,” Gutmann wrote.