ASU will receive roughly $63.5 million from the U.S. Department of Education through the CARES Act, and at least $31.8 million will fund emergency cash grants for students.
A University spokesperson would not give additional details on how ASU would spend the aid. ASU received the highest amount of aid in the country, The Arizona Republic reported.
The funding comes from the $2 trillion aid package, called the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, which was signed into law in late March. The bill provides emergency funding for higher education under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund provision in the bill.
Other Arizona universities also received millions in funding. UA received $30.9 million and NAU received $23.6 million, according to a Department of Education PDF with the allocations for universities across the country.
The act calls for $14 billion total to be allocated to higher education, with about $6.3 billion immediately available, said a press release from the Department of Education.
"Colleges and universities are required to utilize the $6.28 billion made available today to provide cash grants to students for expenses related to disruptions to their educations due to the COVID-19 outbreak, including things like course materials and technology as well as food, housing, health care, and childcare," the release said.
To use these funds, the University must send a signed certificate to the DOE pledging that they will "distribute the funds in accordance with applicable law." The University may then determine which students will receive the cash grants.
The dollar amount given to each university or college was determined by a formula based on the number of full-time students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant, school size and amount of students who were not online students prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the DOE.
UA spokesperson Pam Scott told The Republic that UA will issue guidance to students soon and thanked lawmakers for recognizing what students are going through during the pandemic.
Reach the reporter at wmyskow@asu.edu and follow @wmyskow on Twitter.
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Wyatt Myskow is the project manager at The State Press, where he oversees enterprise stories for the publication. He also works at The Arizona Republic, where he covers the cities of Peoria and Surprise.
