ASU is slated to receive just over $191 million from the U.S. Department of Education to support the University's students and “offset losses due to the pandemic,” according to a statement from a University spokesperson.
The Department of Education announced Tuesday it will provide $36 billion in emergency relief grants going to over 5,000 institutions of higher education across the country as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. Under ARP usage requirements, higher education institutions must use approximately half of the funding to directly support students.
ASU, UA and NAU will receive a total of just under $341.1 million in emergency aid, according to a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III chart.
The aid for universities is split into two sections: student and institutional aid. The federal government has designated slightly less than $102.3 million of ASU’s ARP grants for student aid. Approximately $89 million will go to institutional aid, according to the University spokesperson.
ASU does not yet know when it will receive the funding and is working on the allocation details, the spokesperson said. Institutions receiving funding should also use the money for COVID-19 prevention, testing, reduction of vaccine barriers and other student support services, according to the DOE.
“This will be an important piece of helping our Arizona students reach their educational goals and create a better future that will impact them, their families and the state," the statement from the spokesperson said. "ASU will now begin planning how best to allocate these funds to support our students and the university when the funds are received."
UA will receive a total of over $83.5 million, and NAU will receive just under $66.2 million.
Funding from ARP will more than double the aid provided to institutions by Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act relief legislation, according to the DOE announcement.
ASU received over $100 million from the CARES Act throughout 2020. The University received $63.5 million in aid in April 2020 and was granted an additional $46 million by Gov. Doug Ducey in December.
ARP is directing a large portion of the $36 billion in funding to institutions that serve students “acutely affected by the pandemic,” according to the DOE.
Over $10 billion will go to community colleges. More than $6 billion will go to minority-serving institutions. Near $2.6 billion will go to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And about $190 million, nearly the same amount of money that ASU will receive, will go to Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities.
"These funds are critical to ensuring that all of our nation’s students — particularly those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic — have the opportunity to enroll, continue their education, graduate, and pursue their careers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in the DOE announcement.
Reach the reporter at alcamp12@asu.edu and follow @Anna_Lee_Camp on Twitter.
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