COVID-19 Parent Email

Below Email Sent March 22, 2020 to all VSA families

Dear VSA Families,

We recognize that day-to-day life may look quite different for your family today than it looked only a couple of weeks ago. During this time of great uncertainty, with changes in procedures and routines, we want to express our support for you and your family. We also want to make sure that we are communicating the most up-to-date information related to Programs for Talented Youth’s summer experiences.

A new update was recently posted about our response to COVID-19 on our website. We recommend that families continue to check our homepage for updated information. Summer is still a few months away, so we are still planning for VSA to commence as communicated while carefully monitoring the ongoing developments surrounding COVID-19.

Adjusted Tuition Deadline: April 15, 2020

We realize that many of you are making drastic adjustments to your typical routines and may have additional out of pocket expenses that you had not planned. In order to allow you more time to pay, the final tuition deadline due date is extended from April 1 to April 15, 2020.

Please note that prior communication on our website and prior correspondence with most of our VSA families referenced a “Refund Deadline” and noted that a refund of 50 percent (less the application fee and deposit) would be provided if a cancellation was made after the tuition deadline (April 1) and before the refund deadline (April 15). To allow families more time to pay tuition because of COVID-19, PTY made the decision for VSA 2020 to push back the tuition deadline to April 15 and forego the 50% refund deadline. With the extension of the tuition deadline, a refund deadline was no longer needed. Once the full tuition is paid on April 15, 2020 there is no refund unless PTY cancels programs. Prior to April 15, should you choose to cancel and PTY has not cancelled programs, you will receive any tuition paid less the nonrefundable deposit and application fee. International students from countries with travel restrictions may cancel at any time with a full refund less the nonrefundable application fee. More information about PTY tuition due dates can be found here.

Adjusted Required Forms Deadline: May 1, 2020

Additionally, in an effort to allow physicians the ability to focus on more critical issues and to allow you more time to focus on your present family needs, we have also adjusted the deadline for our required forms from April 15, 2020 to May 1, 2020. This new due date now appears in your SchoolDoc account. Please continue to communicate with us should this new date be an issue.

What Happens If PTY Must Cancel Because of COVID-19?

We have received many questions regarding what will happen with your tuition payment should PTY need to cancel programs. While cancelling programs is not our intent at this time, if programs are cancelled by PTY, you will receive your choice of a credit toward a future program or a refund for tuition paid, less the nonrefundable application fee.

Resources

We view our mission at PTY to help support students and families, and we recognize that many families are figuring out how to help their young students operate in an online learning environment. In an effort to connect you with a potential resource, we would like to share that the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) has created a website for families and educators that includes information about how to talk to your child about COVID-19, teaching in an online learning setting, and links to student activities and resources. If there are additional sites or resources you have found helpful, please share these with us through our PTY email address (pty.peabody@vanderbilt.edu), and we will pass them along to NAGC to share with families across the nation. We are all in this together, and we know that sharing resources is important.

We are Here for You

We know that everyone’s situation is unique and there is a lot going on right now. We are here and ready to listen. As always, thank you for your kind emails and understanding as we navigate this public health challenge in the context of student programming. Please don’t hesitate to reach out through the contact information listed below should you have any questions.

Sincerely,

The VSA Team
615-322-8261
vsa.pty@vanderbilt.edu (preferred)

Below Email Sent March 22, 2020 to all SAVY families

Dear SAVY Families,

We write to you recognizing that day-to-day life may look quite different for your family today than it looked only a couple of weeks ago. During this time of great uncertainty, with changes in procedures and routines, we want to express our support for you and your family. We also want to make sure that we are communicating with you the most up-to-date information related to Programs for Talented Youth’s summer experiences.

We have recently posted a new update about our response to COVID-19 on our website. We recommend that families continue to check our homepage for updated information.

Summer is still a few months away, so we are still planning for SAVY to commence as communicated while carefully monitoring the ongoing developments surrounding COVID-19.

We have received a lot of questions regarding what will happen with refunds should PTY need to cancel programs. While cancelling programs is not our intent at this time, should COVID-19 require us to cancel, you will receive your choice of a tuition credit toward a future program or a full refund, less the nonrefundable application fee.

As always, thank you for your kind emails and understanding as we navigate this public health challenge in the context of student programming. Please don’t hesitate to reach out through the contact information listed below should you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Your SAVY Team
Phone: 615.322.8261
Email: savy.pty@vanderbilt.edu (preferred)

Below Email Sent March 13, 2020 to all PTY families (SAVY and VSA)

Dear Families,

As you know, a lot has been going on at Vanderbilt University and across the world the past few days in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On Wednesday Vanderbilt announced that they are moving fully to online and alternative learning environments for the remainder of the semester. In order to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors from the COVID-19 disease students have been asked to move out of residential halls by March 15. University officials are actively reviewing the situation and taking the necessary precautions with cleaning, sanitizing, social distancing and other best practices to keep our campus safe.

Your child’s health and safety are our primary concern. We imagine that you have a lot of questions and want to know what will occur with programming this summer.

As summer program inception is three months away, we are moving forward with planning an exciting summer with the anticipation of fully implementing summer programs as indicated. This is an ever-evolving situation and we will continue to monitor this. More specific information is anticipated in mid-April. We have ongoing communication with Vanderbilt University leadership who is directing our response.

For updates related to the broad set of actions Vanderbilt University is taking to address this public health situation, please visit http://vu.edu/coronavirus.

In the meantime, we encourage you to:

Examine travel restrictions in your area as well as the US State Department notifications, especially if you are traveling outside of the country to attend our program. The US State Department provides information here for travelers: https://www.state.gov/coronavirus/; and

Consider purchasing travel insurance that covers cancelation related to your specific situation. As you may have noticed in your student’s online account, you have the option to purchase a protection plan through a third-party provider with DocNetwork, our online registration contractor. For more information about this, please see the attached document. We are unsure about how long this will continue to be provided. As noted in the attachment, VU does not own, endorse, manage, or profit from your purchase of this plan. All agreements are made directly with the insurance provider and communication is directly through them. It is one of multiple options you may choose to investigate.

View our website for up-to-date information and postings specific to PTY: http://www.pty.vanderbilt.edu

Regarding Refunds:

All regular policies including refunds and tuition deadlines are being followed as indicated. The exception to this is for international students who live in countries with travel bans to the United States. Students from these countries may choose to cancel with a full refund less the nonrefundable application fee. All other cancellations and refunds will follow our normal policies as described in your VSA and SAVY correspondence and your student’s online account. This information is also found here for VSA: https://pty.vanderbilt.edu/for-students/vsa/tuition/and here for SAVY: https://pty.vanderbilt.edu/for-students/savy/tuition/. Per our policies, PTY is not responsible for any travel related costs to get to/from programs regardless of the circumstances surrounding the cancellation.

Thank you in advance for your understanding of this difficult situation we are all in. This is an uncertain time for all of us and we are making decisions with your student in mind and based on university guidance and the most accurate information available to date. More information will be shared as the program date gets closer.

As always, if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of our program, please don’t hesitate to reach out. It is our sincerest hope to see you on campus this summer.

Sincerely,

The PTY Team
615-322-8261
pty.peabody@vanderbilt.edu