Last month, the President signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law. This act provides nearly $14 billion to support postsecondary education students and institutions. At the end of last week, the Department of Education (ED) announced that more than $6 billion will be distributed immediately to colleges and universities to provide direct emergency grants to students disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak.
“What’s best for students is at the center of every decision we make,” said Secretary DeVos. “That’s why we prioritized getting funding out the door quickly to college students who need it most. We don’t want unmet financial needs due to the coronavirus to derail their learning.”
School allocations are set by a formula stipulated in the CARES Act. The funding allocation is determined by the number of Pell and non-Pell recipients enrolled full-time at each institution, using the most recent data available from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Federal Student Aid (FSA). Students who were enrolled exclusively online before COVID-19 are excluded from the formula. The list of allocations to colleges and universities is available on the CARES Act website through ED.
In order to receive the funding, institutions must sign and submit a certification form attesting that they will use the funding in accordance with the law. Institutions must set up an account with grants.gov to access the necessary forms. The process for applying requires institutions to:
- Download and complete offline the Recipient’s Funding Certification and Agreement form
- Complete the Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424)
- Completing the Department of Education Supplemental Information Form for the SF-424
A step-by-step guide, visual aid, and procedure tips document are available on the CARES Act website.
Institutions will have broad discretion on the use of funds. Notably, neither the statute nor certification form require that these funds be provided to Title IV eligible students. Institutions may develop their own system and process for determining how to and how much to allocate these funds. The only statutory requirement is that the funds must be used to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the coronavirus, including eligible expenses under a student’s cost of attendance, such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care.
The funding and certification agreement that institutions must sign to receive the funding makes clear that colleges and universities must “promptly and to the greatest extent practicable distribute all the advanced funds in the form of emergency financial aid grants to students by one year from the date” they sign.
Institutions will be required to report how grants were distributed to students, the amount of each grant awarded to each student, how the amount of each grant was calculated, among other things, within 30 days from signing the certification form, and every 45 days thereafter.
The funding received through this process is designated specifically for student grants and cannot be used to reimburse the institution. ED will release information in the coming weeks about how institutions will receive allocations and guidance for the institutional share of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. Institutions will be able to use these funds to cover costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus.
Additional Information:
Grants.gov Submission Procedures and Tips for Applicants
A Guide for how to apply for funding in GRANTS.gov
A Guide for how to apply for funding in GRANTS.gov Visual Aid
Sources:
ED: Secretary DeVos Rapidly Delivers More Than $6 Billion in Emergency Cash Grants for College Students Impacted by Coronavirus Outbreak
NASFAA: ED Provides Details on Institutional Allocation for $6 Billion in Emergency Funds for Students
CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Wesbite
CARES Act Grant Funding Letter