CARES Act Notice and Update
Friday, August 28, 2020
In our initial notice dated May 11, 2020 we discussed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), which includes relief for individual Americans, healthcare workers, small businesses and certain industries hit hard by the pandemic. This is an update to the initial notice. Noted below are details of HCU’s allocated funding related to the CARES Act and an update on the funds disbursed:
- The CARES Act was recently passed by the U.S. Congress and includes Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF). HCU has signed, acknowledged, and returned to the Department of Education the required Certification and Agreement, which states that the institution plans to use no less than 50 percent 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 funds were awarded by the Department of Education to HCU, with a total allocation amount equal to $2,615,603. Of this, $1,308,000 was allocated for direct student aid which was made available to HCU on April 27, 2020.
- HCU has distributed approximately $1,272,000 to students related to the HEERF funding with plans to distribute the remaining $36,000 of funding.
- HCU has used approximately $85,000 to continue to pay approximately 217 students that were displaced from their campus job due to the closure of campus using HEERF funds. A calculation was made of the average number of hours worked per week during the month of February to determine a pay period average number of hours. This calculated number of hours will be paid for each pay period through the end of the spring 2020 term to each student at the rate of pay on his/her payroll authorization for his/her position.
- The remaining amount of approximately $1,187,000 (allocated for direct student aid) was evenly distributed to approximately 1,153 students as a grant using a paper check or as a direct deposit into their bank account if HCU had 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 levels with the highest amount of unmet need at the time of the campus closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Approximately 94 students received both the continued pay stipend and the grant.
- There are approximately 2,850 eligible students, none of whom were enrolled in an exclusively online program.