HEERF Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students
The recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) that was set up to provide over $14 billion in emergency funding to higher education. More than $6 billion of this funding must go directly to students as emergency financial aid grants for expenses they have incurred relating to the disruption of campus operations due to the COVID-19.
Certification and Agreement Acknowledgement:
Heritage Christian University acknowledges that a signed Certification and Agreement was submitted to the Department of Education.. This agreement indicated our commitment and assurance that HCU would attempt use 50% of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.
CARES Act Reports
2nd Quarter 2021 CARES – HEERF III
3rd Quarter 2021 CARES – HEERF
1st Quarter 2022 CARES – HEERF
Institutional Portion – Annual
For more information on the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, please visit the Department’s CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund page.
Funds Received through the CARES grants authorized under FIPSE(the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education):
The funds from the FIPSE raised the amount given to all public and private, nonprofit colleges that did not receive at least $500,000 under the student and institutional emergency grants to $500,000. HCU applied for and received a total of $474,000.
Those funds can be used to replace lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, and payroll related to the pandemic incurred on March 13, 2020 or later. These funds can also be used for grants to students for any cost of attendance item (as defined under section 472 of the Higher Education Act) including tuition, course materials, and technology.
While it is not required that 50% of these funds be used on student grants, the department encourages institutions to use as much of the funding as possible on students, and to use institutional funds to expand remote learning and build IT capacity.
HCU CARES Act Funding Distribution – June 19, 2020
Heritage Christian University received $25,804 from the U.S. Department of Education as part of Section 18004(e) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) on April 22, 2020.
The total amount of Emergency Financial Aid Grants distributed to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act as of the date of submission totals $12,902, 50% of the total aid received.
Fifteen students at HCU were found eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and thus eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act. Each student had filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for the 2019-2020 academic year. These payments have now been sent to and received by these 15 students.
The number of individual grants was based on the number of campus students forced to transfer to Distance Learning and their expected family contribution. The basis of the funding included eligible expenses such as housing, food, course materials. Students were put into tiers based on their expected family contribution (EFC). The average total grant to each student was just over $860.
For more information on the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, please visit the Department’s CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund page.
