COVID-19 Response — Campus Life and Amenities

Admissions and Visiting Campus

Application and admissions processes will continue. Prospective students will still be able to apply for admission, move through the admission process, and receive admissions decisions from the University. Our admission team, and the rest of the University, remains as committed as ever to maintaining high levels of service to prospective students as they plan their future at St. Kate's in 2021 and beyond. To connect with your admission counselor, visit our Admission and Aid page.

We offer several ways to learn about St. Kate's virtually, or to safely visit campus in person. Options include individual campus tours, visits with your admission counselor, phone appointments, and online events. Before visiting campus, all visitors must complete a Visitor Health Screening Checklist.

Access to Buildings and Common Spaces

As outlined in the Preparedness Plan, all buildings will remain locked, and students, faculty and staff must use their University ID card to access buildings.

University Event Statuses

The University will continue to follow the guidelines provided by the Safely Returning to Campus Committee.

  • Faculty, staff and students may proceed to plan for fall events on campus.
  • Beginning September, 2021, the University will return to hosting outside events from external organizations.
  • All unvaccinated persons attending events on campus are required to wear face masks and practice social distancing.
  • The Chapel will be open for weddings, funerals, religious services and select other events with a maximum capacity of 250.
  • For event inquiries, please contact the Office of University Events at uevents@stkate.edu.

Events at The O’Shaughnessy

All events at The O'Shaughnessy have been canceled until further notice. Information regarding future programming will be posted on The O'Shaughnessy website when it becomes available. Please contact The O'Shaughnessy at oshaughnessy@stkate.edu with questions.

Tuition, Student Accounts, and CARES Act

Tuition and fees are determined as part of the University’s anticipated annual revenue and expenses during the annual budget development process.

Student Accounts and Tuition Rates

Federal CARES Act Student Emergency Grant

Technology is a key component of the infrastructure necessary to provide the desired curriculum and student experience. The technology fee helps fund some of the annual cost of licensing and maintenance for our core student software and technology services including the network, student enterprise system, course management system, and various other systems. These systems are designed to improve academic success and student services such as advising, degree audit, and mobile apps for student class information, schedule, and grades. 

In the past year, we replaced our wifi network across the St. Paul campus with a new, more secure, state-of-the-art system and launched a new application for students to find “how to” information and forms to request services. During the upcoming two years, we plan to integrate and enhance our degree planning, course planning, and registration tools to better align our course offerings to the needs and wants of our students, and we will continue development of security enhancements to protect and inform students on safe digital practices.

Student activity fees are charged to St. Catherine University students each semester. The fee is used to support the student governing boards, a wide variety of on-campus and online student groups, programs and events, and student service offices and programming. The fee and how it is allocated varies according to the different student populations to best support our students. We recognize the importance and value in maintaining our community for students during the pandemic, and the student governing bodies and student groups continue to meet online.

The Clinical and Assessment Fee is charged to undergraduate nursing students after they have been admitted to the major, for select terms when they are enrolled in courses determined by the Nursing department. This fee supports a range of expenses associated with the Nursing program, including securing clinical placements, development of the nursing curriculum, lab experience and equipment, and nursing board exam preparation program and services.

Those who are or were unable to complete their clinical experience due to COVID-19 will still be required to pay this fee, which supports the cost of securing and supporting a student’s placement into their clinical experience, as well as curriculum support for the nursing board exam preparation and services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous faculty and administrators are exploring and leveraging alternative technology options. This group is also working with accrediting agencies and clinical partners to ensure that experiences will move forward after this unprecedented crisis is over. The Clinical and Assessment fee will not be refunded for those clinicals that were not completed; however, there will be no additional charges when the clinical experience resumes.

In response to COVID-19, St. Catherine University is committed to identifying ways to help students successfully progress with their education goals. We recognize students and families are experiencing many stresses right now, including income loss or other financial hardships, in addition to the challenge of transitioning to an online learning environment.

With consideration to students experiencing financial hardships, we are temporarily allowing students with a balance of less than $2,500 to register for the fall 2020 semester. What does this mean for students? 

  • Registration holds will be lifted for accounts that have balances less than $2,500, which will allow students to register during their scheduled registration windows for the courses needed to progress and stay on track for graduation.
  • Students will have extra time to pay down their student account balance without penalty. 

In addition, we are offering a COVID-19 Emergency Payment Plan for students with a balance greater than $2,500. 

  • Students and authorized users who can actively make payments on their student account balance and want to get registered for fall, please contact Student Accounts at studentaccounts@stkate.edu.
  • After a student has established a COVID-19 Emergency Payment Plan with a member of the Student Accounts staff, the student will be allowed extra time to pay down their student account without penalty and will be allowed to register for fall 2020, through August 3, 2020. 

We know it is important to you to stay on track academically; it is important to us as well. We also want our students to be financially successful, which is why students will be provided additional time to pay their student account balance. In addition, during this time, students will not be assessed finance fees. 

To protect students and their families from incurring a debt level that could create adverse financial circumstances, students whose balance was $2,500 or over, who did not have a plan for payment established with Student Accounts on Monday, August 3, by end of day, were dropped from their registered courses and a registration hold was placed on their student account. Students should work with their Financial Aid counselor as well as the staff in Student Accounts to find resolution. Once the balance becomes lower than $2,500 for fall 2020, the Registration Hold will be automatically lifted and the student can proceed with registration for fall 2020. 

Housing and Dining

We are excited to welcome students back to campus for the 2021-2022 academic year. Due to COVID-19, we have reduced the density of campus student housing, so that fewer individuals share common facilities, such as bathrooms, shower stalls, and community laundry rooms.

In the traditional residence halls, students are offered the opportunity to live in a single, as available. Roommates are also offered in both our traditional halls and in suites and apartments this year. Housing assignments are subject to change for the 2021-2022 academic year based on possible updates or changes to public health guidelines. Please review the Housing & Dining Agreement for more information and changes since the COVID pandemic, which include but are not limited to: 

  • In order to maintain social distancing and recommended health standards, we cannot guarantee you a specific type of space. However, we will try our best to honor your preferences and roommate requests.
  • Guest/Visitor policy — St Kate’s currently has a vaccine requirement for all off-campus guests. Residents are allowed two (2) guests per resident per residential space. 
    • If the resident host has a roommate or roommates, they must also obtain permission from their roommate(s) before hosting their guest.
    • All parties must be wearing a mask during their visit. Social distancing policies and procedures, as set by the University, must be followed.
  • Room changes will only be available on a case-by-case basis if circumstances are warranted. As mentioned previously, the amount of students on campus has been lowered, however, we have limited spaces available to move students. As a regular practice there is a hold on room changes until the third week of classes. Additionally, due to the complexities around room changes during COVID, room change requests may take longer (up to two (2) weeks) to approve. Please refer to the Housing & Dining Agreement for additional details. Once a student has moved on campus they should contact their Area Director or Residence Coordinator to inquire about a potential room change.
  • Residents, including spouses and children over 12, must remain in compliance with the University vaccination requirements in order to be eligible to live on campus. 
  • We are asking that each student develop a plan to move to a location off campus if they should need to quarantine or isolate. Should a student test positive for COVID-19 or need to quarantine, alternative housing will be available as needed. Every student living on campus who needs to be in quarantine or isolation will receive a packet detailing the policies in place for quarantine and isolation. A failure to abide by these policies could result in the removal of the student from their on campus accommodation and cancellation of their Housing & Dining Agreement.

Move-in appointments have been established to provide a staggered schedule for social distancing. Students should refer to their move-in appointment confirmation email for details about visitors during move in.

Sodexo, which manages our food service, is also taking specific actions globally and locally to ensure the safety and health of those they serve. This includes ensuring access to essential personal protective equipment, developing alternative menus and serving options if there is an impact on the food chain, special instruction on preventing the spread of COVID-19, reinforcement of existing food safety policies, and increased cleaning and disinfecting. 

Sodexo has addressed COVID-19 health concerns eliminating some of the high touch points in the dining room. 

  • Utensils for self serve stations will be changed out frequently for cleaning and disinfecting
  • Hand sanitizer stations will be set up at all self serve stations 
  • Fountain drinks have been suspended, but bottled beverages will still be sold.
  • In general, there will be increased grab-and-go options available.

Meal plans and dining options have been set to align with the selected housing options and campus-based activities to ensure all health and safety precautions are in place for on-campus food and beverage services. If students would like to order ahead, they can do so by visiting diningtogo.stkate.edu. All students, faculty, and staff will be encouraged to order and pay ahead for food and beverage services as we support contactless pick up.

Fall meal plans begin on August 27, 2021 and end on January 13, 2022. Spring meal plans begin on January 14 and end on May 21, 2022.