April 9, 2020 Update

North Central Michigan College understands the difficult financial situation members of our college family are experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 19 we announced that compensation would continue for all employees through April 19, with the exception of full-time faculty and adjunct faculty who are not impacted by this decision, as pay is governed by a semester- or year-long contract. This communication also stated that student-employees would be compensated for the two weeks prior to the planned Spring Break to lessen the financial impact. 

We are continuing our efforts to minimize this hardship for our students and employees. Therefore, today we are announcing the following: 

To Our Student-Employees:

To help ease this financial hardship, the College will compensate you through the end of winter semester (May 8, 2020), based on your scheduled hours, as though you had worked during this time.  This compensation will be processed bi-weekly as usual. 

To Our Residence Hall Students:

North Central recognizes the hardship caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in an abrupt disruption to your living-learning experience. To help ease this financial hardship, the College will credit to your account by April 13 the remaining 50% of your residence hall room charges for the Winter 2020 semester, so that these funds are available to satisfy any financial obligations.  In the event that this credit for room charges results in an overall credit to your account, a refund will be issued during the week of April 13. This refund will be disbursed using our normal BankMobile process.  In addition, the $100 damage deposit will be returned to you upon retrieval of your belongings, once it is safe to do so. 

To Our Part-Time Staff and Our Part-Time EduStaff (non-adjunct) Employees:

The College will compensate you based on your customary scheduled hours, as though normal college operations were continuing. Therefore, those of you who normally work through the end of the semester will be paid through May 8, 2020, as though you have worked your normal schedule. Those of you who routinely work through the end of June will be paid through June 30, 2020, as though you have worked your normal schedule. This compensation will be processed bi-weekly as usual. Plans beyond June 30 (for next fiscal year) are currently under discussion, as we work to craft the 2020-21 budget per our normal process.

To Our Full-Time Staff and Administrators:

As a next step, North Central will continue compensation for all full-time staff and administrators through June 30, 2020.  We appreciate the adjustments many of you have made to work remotely.  The governor’s shelter in place order will, in part, dictate our return to regular working conditions.  

We are closely monitoring the changing landscape to make the best decisions given our current environment, while at the same time positioning ourselves for a positive, exciting future.  We have yet to understand the pandemic’s enrollment implications, positive or negative, whether there will be potential state assistance shortfalls, or the impact of federal funding, all of which affect next fiscal year’s budgeting process.  Prudent budgeting has helped us weather this storm thus far, and we will continue to balance our available financial resources with our human resources — our most valuable asset — to make judicious decisions for FY 2020-2021, which begins on July 1.

We remain committed to the safety and well-being of our college community. It is the aim of North Central to do all that we reasonably can to minimize disruption for our employees and enable our students to focus on their studies during this challenging time.