TYLER, Texas — Back when Texas began to fully lock down due to COVID-19, Governor Abbott put in place some provisions to help Texans deal with the new reality of a pandemic.
When Texas implemented the lockdown orders that caused many Texans to see financial troubles, the governor implemented a series of waivers to soften the damage. Many of these, like the waiver suspending evictions, have since expired. However, some remain in effect.
Currently, colleges are still allowed to transfer all un-expended student financial aid funds from the Texas College Work-Study (TCWS) program to other financial aid programs that do not have a work-study requirement.
This means for students who depend on work-study, and cannot currently work on campus to fulfill the requirement, schools can give them their work-study scholarship through different means.
UT Tyler says they continued to pay their work study students through the rest of the semester, and the University is allocating any left over Texas work-study funds, not utilized through the work-study program, into a fund to be distributed to students who were eligible for the program and still have a balance or need in their cost of attendance.
Another waiver still active is the hold on expirations for Texas driver’s licenses until 60 days after the DPS offices are fully reopened. The offices are not yet fully open, and there is no set date on when DPS plans to do so. DPS says to keep an eye on their website for updates.
Aside from the governor’s waivers the expanded unemployment benefits through the CARES Act that include provisions for self employed and gig workers, as well as a boost of the benefits up to $600 dollars per check, are set to expire on July 31st.
For more information on the governor’s waivers, click here.
