CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief

The U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) released guidance related to CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEERF) funding to higher education institutions to assist students with unmet expenses as a result of COVID-19. Funds must be used to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus, such as:

• course materials
• technology
• food
• housing
• health care
• childcare
• or other cost of attendance related item

Furthermore, USDOE guidelines require emergency grants only be distributed to students who are eligible to participate in federal Title IV aid programs. Students exclusively enrolled in online courses prior to March 13, 2020 are not eligible.

In accordance with the HEERF Certification and Agreement signed and returned to the USDOE, the institution will use no less than 50 percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students. Our institution determined funds would be allocated to the largest number of students possible due to impacts of COVID-19 related events. Following Secretary of Education DeVos’s guidance, Pell eligible students received priority funding. However, based on our institution’s determined criteria, certain non-Pell eligible students were also considered eligible for funding. Any disbursed emergency grant funds will be released to students by either refund check or direct deposit, depending on the method the student has setup with the college. A payment is not necessarily a reflection of a student’s current student account balance, as these funds are disbursed directly to a student no matter if a current balance is owed to the institution.

The institution began making HEERF payments to eligible students mid-May 2020.

Students determined eligible for HEERF payments will receive a confirmation email from the institution. A copy of the email template may be reviewed here. Please direct all disbursement questions to businessoffice@pstcc.edu. For questions related to eligibility for CARES funds please contact the Financial Aid office at financialaid@pstcc.edu.

 

Additional Emergency Grant Funding

Eligible students will be contacted via their college email account regarding the availability of emergency grant funding.

 

HEERF Payment Allocation Information

Number of Title IV eligible students who may qualify for HEERF payments:	4,456
Total amount of HEERF aid available for payments to students:	$2,585,595
Total amount of HEERF aid paid to eligible students:	$2,569,376.29
Total number of eligible students paid:	4,451

Table is initially published no later than 30 days after the institution received HEERF funds and is updated no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter. The table below provides these dates.

 

HEERF Quarterly Report

Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting under CARES Act Sections 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion, 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3)

October 31, 2020 (PDF)

January 10, 2021 (PDF)

April 10, 2021

July 10, 2021

October 10, 2021