The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), yesterday, released guidance on how colleges and universities can use the $36 billion in emergency funding that was included in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which passed Congress in March.
U.S. Rep. Al Lawson said that FAMU would receive $36,545,028 million from the ARP, with a minimum of $18,272,514 set aside for student aid. “These funds can be used to disburse emergency grants to students regardless of their citizenship status, whether they completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or are eligible for federal financial aid,” Lawson said.
According to USDOE’s guidance, the grants must go to students deemed by their institutions to have exceptional need.
“These grants will provide struggling students with urgent relief that will allow them to stay on track and complete their studies,” said Lawson. “I am proud to have supported the American Rescue Plan, and I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for its relentless focus on supporting our students, defeating the pandemic and building back a better economy.”
In addition to the $36 billion for colleges and universities, the third round of funding from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund in the ARP, provided $10 billion to community colleges, an additional $2.6 billion to historically Black colleges and universities, $190 million to tribal colleges, and $6 billion to other minority-serving institutions.
Public and private nonprofit educational institutions must also use part of their institutional funding on “evidence-based practices” for monitoring and suppressing the coronavirus and on direct outreach to financial aid applicants alerting them of the opportunity to receive a financial aid adjustment if they or a family member became unemployed during the pandemic, according to the guidance.
None of the funding can be used for marketing or recruitment, construction, endowments, or salaries and benefits for senior administrators.
The third round of funding was allocated to colleges based on a formula that includes their relative shares of Pell Grant recipients and non-Pell Grant recipients, along with Pell Grant recipients enrolled in distance learning prior to the pandemic.