CRRSAA Notice and Update
Friday, July 09, 2021
This is a challenging time for all of our HCU community. Please know that we are focused on the welfare and safety of our students, faculty and staff. The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) is authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), Public Law 116-260, signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020 and authorizes funding support for higher education (and other agencies). The relief fund provides funds for enrolled students (including students exclusively enrolled in distance education) to be used to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus (including eligible expenses under a student’s cost of attendance such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care). Institutions have been encouraged to provide grants to the neediest students. Noted below are details of HCU’s allocated funding related to the CRRSAA funding and process for disbursement of funding for the first quarter of 2021:
- HCU has signed, acknowledged, and returned to the Department of Education the required Certification and Agreement CARES Act which also applies CRRSAA, which states that the institution plans to use no less than $1,307,802 of funding to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students. A sample copy of this certification and more information regarding the HEERF funding can be found via the following links:
- The HEERF II funds were awarded by the Department of Education to HCU, with a total allocation amount equal to $4,386,077. Of the $4,386,077, only $3,078,275 was allocated to costs incurred by the institution and $1,307,802 was allocated for direct student aid. The total amount was made available to HCU on January 17, 2021.
- As of March 31, 2021, HCU has expensed $263,649 related to HEERF institutional funding. (See Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting PDF for details.)
- As of March 31, 2021, HCU has distributed $1,306,880 of direct student aid.
- The allocation of direct student aid was evenly distributed to approximately 1,021 students as a grant using a paper check or as a direct deposit into their bank account if HCU has direct deposit instructions on file for the student. The higher education relief fund provides funds for enrolled students to be used to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus (including eligible expenses under a student’s cost of attendance, such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and childcare). The criteria for distribution was based on the lowest Student Aid Index (SAI under $10,000) levels with the highest amount of unmet need (in excess of $3,000) as of the spring 2021 term.
- The amount was divided equally among all of the eligible students that met the criteria. Each student received $1,280.
- There are approximately 3,964 eligible students to receive emergency financial aid grants under CRRSAA.
As more information becomes available, this page will be updated accordingly.
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may distinguish the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” Philippians in 1:9-10