The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or, CARES Act, was passed by Congress on March 27th, 2020. This bill allotted $2.2 trillion to provide fast and direct economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of that money, approximately $14 billion was given to the Office of Postsecondary Education as the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, or HEERF.
Columbus State Community College received a total award of $12,562,800. Half of the award, $6,281,400.00, was designated to go directly to students in the form of emergency financial aid grants (HEERF-student share) for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the COVID-19 crisis. The balance of these funds, the institutional share, also $6,281,400, is to be used by institutions for expenses related to the coronavirus.
The U.S. Department of Education stated that CARES Act funds could only go to students who were eligible to submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, often referred to as FAFSA, and were enrolled in at least one class at Columbus State at the time the national health emergency was declared. Students who do not have a financial aid application on file with Columbus State, and were eligible to submit one, were encouraged to do so to receive CARES Act funds. Receiving CARES Act funds will not affect students’ current or future financial aid.
Columbus State Community College used an application process to allow students to request Student Emergency Relief Grants (SERG) funded by CARES Act funds. In addition to ensure access to these funds, after the initial application period ended, students in cohort groups, who were most likely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, were awarded funds.
SPRING 2023
Grants for Spring were disbursed to a select group of students with outstanding SP23 or AU22 tuition balances. Students were notified of the grant availability and were given instructions on how to complete the application. One hundred and thirty-four (134) students completed applications. At total of $ 123,048.10 was applied, with affirmative consent, to students’ outstanding balances.
AUTUMN 2022
The Autumn grants were first disbursed to PELL Eligible Students (6304 awards totaling $5,673,156.25). Remaining funds were available to all students through two application processes. Through the applications an additional 2110 grants were awarded for a total of 8,414 grants. The Total amount disbursed in Autumn 2022 was $6,490,690.00.
SPRING, SUMMER, AND AUTUMN 2020
During the first quarter of funding (April 2020 – June 2020) a total of 1,428 grants were disbursed for a total of $1,517,183.80.
In the second quarter of funding (July 2020 -September 2020) a total of 2,623 grants were disbursed for a total of $3,124,250.
In the third quarter (October 2020-December 2020) a total of 2,947 grants were disbursed for a total of $513,350.00
By term the breakdown is as follows: