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. Earlier this month, the Department of Education (ED) released details for institutions to access approximately $6 billion for the student support from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). So far, 50% of eligible postsecondary institutions have applied to receive the Emergency Financial Aid Grants for students.
This week, ED met with higher education stakeholders to announce the availability of additional funding from the CARES Act. The CARES Act allows institutions to use up to one half of the total funds received to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus, referred to as “Recipient Institutional Costs.”
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 access the funding for the Recipient Institutional Costs, institutions must first complete the process for the Emergency Financial Aid Grants for Students (see our recent post: ED Provides Details for Emergency Funds for Students). Once that process is complete, the process for the Recipient Institutional Costs is similar, institutions must:
- Sign Certification and Agreement for Recipient Institutional Costs
- Return the agreement via grants.gov (must have a grants.gov account)
- Search for opportunity number ED-GRANTS-042120-004
- Complete the forms and submit signed Certification and Agreement
The funding will be available using the G5 system once confirmed.
Frequently Asked Questions
In addition to this announcement, ED reviewed a few frequently asked questions regarding eligibility for both the student and institutional portions of the HEERF during the call with stakeholders. The full FAQ documents are available online. Below are a few mentioned on the call:
- Only students who are or could be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), may receive emergency financial aid grants. If a student has filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), then the student has demonstrated eligibility to participate in programs under Section 484 the HEA. Students who have not filed a FAFSA but who are eligible to file a FAFSA also may receive emergency financial aid grants.
- The CARES Act requires institutions to provide the emergency financial aid grants to students, and institutions may not use that portion of the HEERF set aside for emergency financial aid grants to students for this purpose. However, institutions may use the funds for Recipient’s Institutional Costs to provide refunds to students for room and board, tuition, and other fees as a result of significant changes to the delivery of instruction, including interruptions in instruction, due to the coronavirus. Institutions also may reimburse themselves for refunds previously made to students on or after March 13, 2020 if those refunds were necessitated by significant changes to the delivery of instruction, including interruptions in instruction, due to the coronavirus.
- Institutions may provide emergency financial aid grants to students using checks, electronic transfer payments, debit cards, and payment apps that adhere to ED’s requirements for paying credit balances to students. The disbursement of the emergency financial aid grant to the student may not be applied to the student account and debts, charges, fees, or other amounts owed to the institution may not be deducted from the emergency financial aid grant.
- Students who were enrolled exclusively in an online program on March 13, 2020 are not eligible for emergency financial aid grants.
- The Certification and Agreement for the Institutional Portion of the HEERF states that the funds for Recipient’s Institutional Costs cannot be used for the provision of pre-enrollment recruitment activities, including marketing and advertising, or endowments or senior administrator compensation, or cash or benefits for executives or senior administrator.
Additional FAQs are available on the ED CARES Act webpage:
- FAQs about the Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students
- FAQs about the Institutional Portion of the HEERF
Sources:
FAQs about the Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students
FAQs about the Institutional Portion of the HEERF
CARES Act grant funding cover letter
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