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.

 

Payment Methodology

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. Criteria for eligibility include:

• An individual must have been a student as of March 13, 2020
• Students cannot have been enrolled solely in an online format as of March 13, 2020
• Students paid must be eligible to participate in Title IV financial aid programs

Much of the funding is automatically disbursed to eligible students, but eligibility for students who did not file FAFSAs cannot yet be verified. We anticipate USDOE will release an option for these students to self-certify eligibility. However, affected students may elect to complete a 2019-2020 FAFSA at www.fafsa.gov so eligibility can be determined. For more information regarding filing a FAFSA, go to www.pstcc.edu/financialaid.

 

Disbursement Process

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.

Students determined eligible for HEERF payments will receive a confirmation email from the institution. 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

Emergency grant funds are no longer available.

 

HEERF Payment Allocation Information

Number of Title IV eligible students who may qualify for HEERF payments:	4,571
Total amount of HEERF aid available for payments to students:	$2,585,595
Total amount of HEERF aid paid to eligible students:	$2,146,416.92
Total number of eligible students paid:	4,198

Table is initially published no later than 30 days after the institution received HEERF funds and is updated every 45 days after. The table below provides these dates.

 

Date Institution Submitted HEERF Certification and Agreement to USDOE:	April 15, 2020
Date Information Originally Published Online:	May 20, 2020
Website Updated (1st 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (2nd 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (3rd 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (4th 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (5th 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (6th 45-day requirement):
Website Updated (7th 45-day requirement):