Students at Elizabethtown College received emails from the Business Office Monday, March 1, informing them that the College was distributing direct emergency funds.
The payments come as part of the Coronavirus Relief and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II). The College received more than $675k in funding. According to Executive Director of Business & Financial Services Ben Goodhart, the funding in HEERF II does not have as many limitations on it as the funding provided to the College last spring.
“Last spring, we were not able to give any funding to students who were enrolled exclusively in distanced education programs,” Goodhart said. “So that essentially eliminated all of the students who are enrolled in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, as most of those programs are all online programs.”
In addition, last spring, students were only eligible if they had completed the FAFSA form. With the HEERF II, students enrolled in online programs and students who have not completed the FAFSA are still eligible.
The U.S. Department of Education did request colleges prioritize students with financial need, which Etown did by giving more funds to students who qualify for Pell Grants, a financial-need-based federal grant. Students receiving Pell Grants were given 75 percent more than students who were not eligible for Pell Grants.
“The College recognized that really every student has been impacted in some way by this pandemic by incurring some additional costs, which is why we decided to provide the funding to essentially any student enrolled in the spring semester,” Goodhart said.
The response to the CRRSAA HEERF II funds has been broadly popular.
“Personally I like the payments since I don’t have a job this semester,” Ariel Hampton said. “It helps for whatever bills I need to pay, groceries, etc.”
However, some students and families felt that they did not need the money from the CRRSAA HEERF II, and donated it back to the College to give to students with greater need.
Goodhart mentioned that if there are any students that are experiencing significant financial struggles, they can reach out to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office has set aside some funds in reserve for students who are facing extreme financial need, as determined on a case-by-case basis.
