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(Historical) CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF)

 
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    CFDA#

    84.425
     

    Funder Type

    Federal Government

    IT Classification

    B - Readily funds technology as part of an award

    Authority

    Department of Education (DoEd)

    Summary

    An institution of higher education receiving funds under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund may use the awarded funds to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus, so long as such costs do not include:

    • payment to contractors for the provision of pre-enrollment recruitment activities (including marketing and advertising);
    • endowments; or
    • capital outlays associated with facilities related to athletics, sectarian instruction, or religious worship.

    Institutions of higher education shall use no less than 50% of initial funds awarded to provide emergency financial aid grants to students for 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 child care). Funding can be provided only to students who are eligible under Title IV of the Higher Education Act.


    Of what remains out of the initial amount, internal-use funds will be spent only on those costs for which the college or university has a reasoned basis for concluding such costs have a clear nexus to significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus. It is permissible for an institution to use the Institutional Costs funds to reimburse itself for costs related to refunds made to students for housing, food, or other services that the institution could no longer provide, or for hardware, software, or internet connectivity that the institution may have purchased on behalf of students or provided to students. 


    Unlike the funds available under Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students and for an Institution's Costs (noted above), the funds provided under 7.5% funding bucket and 2.5% funding bucket of the HEERF, are not subject to the same requirements as the 90% funding bucket of the HEERF. This means institutions are not required to use at least 50% of the additional funds for grants to students. Nonetheless, ED encourages institutions to use as much of these funds as possible to give grants to students for any component of the student's cost of attendance, including tuition, course materials, and technology. Institutions may also use these funds to defray institutional expenses, which may include lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with the transition to distance education, faculty and staff training, and payroll.

     

    History of Funding

    An interactive map of funding spent can be found at https://covid-relief-data.ed.gov/

    Additional Information

    Historically Black Colleges and Universities or other Minority Serving Institutions may use prior awards provided under Titles III, V, and VII of the Higher Education Act to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. These institutions will also receive a small additional allocation beyond the amounts noted above. Priority shall also be given to any institution of higher education that is not otherwise eligible for at least $500,000 funding as described under paragraphs (1) and (2) of the award description section of this summary, and that demonstrates significant unmet needs related to expenses associated with coronavirus.


    An institution receiving funds under this section shall submit a report to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner as the Secretary may require, that describes the use of funds provided under this section.


    NOTE: The Department would not consider the following Institutional Costs to be related to significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus, and therefore would not view them as allowable expenditures:

    • senior administrator and/or executive salaries, benefits, bonuses, contracts, incentives;
    • stock buybacks, shareholder dividends, capital distributions, and stock options; and
    • any other cash or other benefits for a senior administrator or executive. 

    Contacts

    Chris McCaghren

    Chris McCaghren
    400 Maryland Ave, SW room 278-44
    Washington, DC 20202
    202-453-7337

    Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund

    Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund
    400 Maryland Ave, SW room 278-44
    Washington, DC 20202
    202-377-3711
     

  • Eligibility Details

    Institutions of Higher Education already receiving funding under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 are eligible.

    Deadline Details

    The funds made available to each institution under subsection shall be distributed by the Secretary of Education using the same systems as the Secretary otherwise distributes funding to each institution under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. - i.e. Student Assistance).


    Initial funding must be used for emergency aid to an institution's students. In order to access these initial funds, all institutions must sign and return the Certificate of Funding and Agreement via: grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/registration.html), acknowledging the terms and conditions of the funding. When filling out the Certificate of Agreement, please remember to enter the institution's 50% direct-to-student allocation on the certificate, not the full 100% allocation. After the Department has received the certificate, institutions may draw down their direct-to-student emergency assistance funds using the Department's G5 system.


    You must complete and submit the CARES HEERF Certification and Agreement Student's Portion before submitting the CARES HEERF Certification and Agreement for the Institution's Allocation of HEER Funds.


    In order to access the funds for Institutional Costs under the CARES Act, colleges and universities must sign the Funding Certification and Agreement for the Institutional Portion of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (available for download at https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/caresact.html). Once signed this document may be submitted via grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov). After the Department has received this second Certification and Agreement form and verified the information therein, institutions may draw down their funds for the Recipient's Institutional Costs using the Department's G5 system. 


    It is expected that institutions have until September 30, 2020 to complete all processes for the student aid and institutional costs aspects of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.


    In order to access the funds for HBCUs, TCUS, MSI, SIP, or FIPSE under the CARES Act, colleges and universities must sign the Funding Certification and Agreement for the Institutional Portion of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (available for download at https://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/caresact.html). Once signed this document may be submitted via grants.gov (https://www.grants.gov). After the Department has received this second Certification and Agreement form and verified the information therein, institutions may draw down their additional funds using the Department's G5 system. The Certification and Agreement forms must be submitted on or before September 30, 2020 for your institution to receive the additional HBCU, TCU, MSI, SIP, or FIPSE funds. 


    The Department of Education reopened the application for institutions who meet one of the following conditions (no new applications), now due January 5, 2021 for the student aid and institutional aid portions and January 11, 2021 for the remaining portions:

    1. IHEs that previously applied for funding, but submitted their application under the incorrect funding opportunity
    2. IHEs that previously applied for funding under a particular funding opportunity, but failed to submit all necessary documentation for that funding opportunity
    3. IHEs that previously applied for funding under the FIPSE Formula Grant program, but failed to submit the required budget form to complete their application
    4. IHEs that previously applied for funding under the FIPSE Formula Grant program, but did not have an award on the section 18004(a)(1) allocation table and did not submit an application as a reserve school under the Student Aid Portion or the Institutional Portion under section 18004(a)(1).
    5. IHEs that originally applied for less funding than they were eligible to receive under a particular funding opportunity.


    This is a one-time emergency funding opportunity. Future deadlines are not anticipated.

    Award Details

    A total of $13,952,505,000 has been allocated for the Higher Education Emergency Education Relief Fund. Of this total amount, the Secretary of Education shall allocate funding as follows:

    1. 90% to each institution of higher education to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus, by apportioning it—
      1. 75% ($9,417,940,875) according to the relative share of fulltime equivalent enrollment of Federal Pell Grant recipients who are not exclusively enrolled in distance education courses prior to the coronavirus emergency; and
      2. 25% ($3,139,313,625) according to the relative share of fulltime equivalent enrollment of students who were not Federal Pell Grant recipients who are not exclusively enrolled in distance education courses prior to the coronavirus emergency.
      3. Individual campus allocations may be viewed alphabetically for the student aid allotment (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/allocationsforsection18004a1ofcaresact.pdf) or by State for the institutional costs allotment (https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/allocationstableinstitutionalportion.pdf)
    2. 7.5% ($1,046,437,875) for additional awards to institutions eligible under parts A (Strengthening Institutions Program) and B (Strengthening HBCUs) of title III, parts A (Developing HSIs) and B (Promoting Post-bacc. Opportunities for Hispanic Americans) of title V, and subpart 4 of part A of title VII (Masters Programs at HBCUs and Predominently Black Institutions) of the Higher Education Act. These funds shall be made available in addition to any amount the institution receives through the 90% allocation noted above.
      1. Individual HBCU, TCU, MSI, and SIP campus allocations may be viewed alphabetically by institution at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/allocationshbcutccumsisip.xlsx
    3. 2.5% ($348,812,625) for even further awards to institutions eligible under part B (Fund for Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) of title VII of the Higher Education Act. These funds will be prioritized for institutions the Secretary determines to have the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus. Meaning, schools that received less than $500,000 under the two other parts of the HEERF (noted above) may combine those funds with these to receive an award amount of up to $500,000.
      1. Individual FIPSE campus allocations may be viewed alphabetically by institution at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/allocationsfipse.pdf
      2. Should there be remaining HEERF funds after bringing eligible institutions up to the $500,000 award threshold; the Department intends to publish a Notice Inviting Application in the coming weeks so institutions may compete for the excess remainder. ED estimates that approximately $15 million will be available for the competitive grant program under FIPSE. 

    NOTE: A recipient's Institutional Costs must have been first incurred on or after March 13, 2020, the date of the Proclamation of National Emergency. Higher Education Emergency Relief funds cannot be used to reimburse costs from before this date. Further, all funds must be expended by the institution within one year of submission of their Certification and Agreement documents.

    Related Webcasts Use the links below to view the recorded playback of these webcasts


    • Funding Classroom Technology to Empower Students and Teachers - Sponsored by Panasonic - Playback Available
    • Maximizing Technology-friendly Workforce Development Grants - Sponsored by Panasonic - Playback Available
    • Funding Data-driven Workforce Development Projects - Sponsored by NetApp - Playback Available

 

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