CARES Act Notice and Update
Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2020
In our recent notice dated August 28, 2020 we updated you on our current status related to 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 August 28, 2020 notice. Noted below are details of HCU’s allocated funding related to the CARES Act and an update about the funds disbursed:
- The CARES Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and includes Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF). HCU 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 at 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, $1,307,802 was allocated for direct student aid which was made available to HCU on April 27, 2020.
- HCU has distributed approximately $1,272,107 to students related to the HEERF funding and plans to distribute the remaining $35,695 of funding on Friday, September 25, 2020.
- HCU has used $84,517 to pay approximately 217 students who were displaced from their campus job 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 was 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 $1,187,590 (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. Similarly, the $35,695 of funds to be distributed on Friday, September 25, 2020, will be evenly distributed to 35 students. Thus, a total of 1,188 students will have received CARES grant funding. The HEERF 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.
- 99 students will have 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.
As more information becomes available, this page will be updated accordingly.