CARES fund through the college?

[teachermom2834]

My ds got a message from his school that they would like to distribute some of their CARES money from the federal relief bill to needy students who have suffered financially from the Covid disruption. It will about make up what he didn’t get in stimulus because we claimed him as a dependent and he certainly has suffered financially as his job was with Major League Baseball. 
 

I had seen how the schools got this money and were supposed to spend on students but I didn’t know what that would look like. In his case it is going to be cash directly to him. So that’s nice.Just wondered if anyone else had heard if they will benefit. 

[Lanny]

Thank you for posting that!   I had read about the CARES money for universities a few days ago. Half of what they receive must then be distributed to students with Financial needs.  I was curious when that might happen, and, how much $ my DD might receive. I think they will work from the FAFSA forms and other information they have about the students. Thanks again for starting this thread!

[Lanny]

Follow-on to my first reply. What I have read is that the first priority will be to aid students who receive Pell Grants. Also those who filed FAFSA.

[Kate in Arabia]

Ds2 just got a check from his univ.  As you mention, they distributed it based on need, which was determined by looking at the FAFSA and financial aid received.  We are thankful for that as things are a bit tight at the moment, so it's nice to have this help.  We were kind of counting on him having a summer job to help with expenses, which is looking iffy, so it's a welcome boost.  The univ also has an emergency fund for needy students, they've been collecting donations from alumni and other supporters. We thankfully haven't needed to ask, but they've posted about other students who, for example, were stranded on campus and needed help getting a plane ticket to go home, that kind of thing. I'm waiting to see what his financial aid package will look like for the fall. They offered discounted summer courses, but ds2 is not interested in taking any more online classes (unless he has to in the fall), and so is looking at other possible activities.

Ds1 is taking summer classes (online) at his univ. His part time job is on hold. I need to ask him about any financial help from his school (he's not one to share much 😉 ).

 

Edited to add:

I spoke with ds 1 last night, he goes to a large, public univ. They are making their CARES funding available to students but you have to apply, and it's supposed to only be in order to offset additional costs incurred because of Covid, and not to offset wages lost or pay for tuition, for example.  They mention that this is their interpretation of the policy wording. First come, first served.

Edited May 5, 2020 by Kate in Arabia
Added more

[elegantlion]

Ds just got notice that he is getting money, no app but he is Pell grant eligible. My university required an app with requested amount, to offset Covid based expenses. Approval for full amount may not happen. I'm asking for my lost month of rent I paid for an empty apartment. We'll see. 

[Lanny]

I am grateful for this thread and for the 3 people whose DC either have already received $ from their schools or have been notified that they will be receiving $ from this U.S. DoE  program!   Hopefully DD will receive $ from this ASAP. This thread is encouraging to those who are waiting. 🙂

[teachermom2834]

My ds (I'm the OP) did get $1000 very quickly into his account. He is not Pell eligible and while he has some need as an out of state student it isn't a huge amount. His girlfriend also got the funds and she is in the same situation. Some need on the FAFSA based on the cost of attendance but not Pell grant eligible. He didn't need to do much to request the funds. They emailed him and he clicked on a link and answered a few questions and it was done. I'm assuming some schools would expect students to take the initiative to apply. 

[Kate in Arabia]

Yes, ds1 (at a large, public school) and I looked at the financial aid website for his univ, they had a statement there about the funding and what you needed to do if you wanted to apply for help. Ds2 (at a small, private school) knew nothing about it, he just received a check in the mail and an email on the same day from the financial aid office informing him they were sending it. They both receive need-based funding as part of their financial aid packages.

[Bootsie]

The purpose of the CARES money that the universities are distributing is to help meet the needs of university students who have faced economic hardship due to COVID.  It is my understanding that universities have some leeway in determining how this is distributed.  There could be, for example, a student who qualifies for a substantial aid package but does not have any additional expenses or loss of income due to COVID-19.  Another student may receive limited financial aid, but be faced with having to purchase an expensive plane ticket home, loss of a part-time job, and loss of summer employment.  Or some student found themselves having to purchase technology and pay for internet to be able to continue their online classes.

[freesia]

We've been wondering if ds would get any and sure enough he got $502.  I have no idea how they figured it, though.  But it is a blessing.

[Lanny]

Another follow-on. Yesterday, in the afternoon, I noticed the web page of UNC CH about Covid-19 Financial Aid was updated and they mentioned the Cares Act funds for students. Progress!  That's excellent news for DD and hopefully they will begin processing the payments to the eligible students, ASAP.  There were few details, but the fact that the web page was updated is very encouraging. Fingers crossed that DD will qualify and receive the funds by Direct Deposit to her bank account.

[MerryAtHope]

9 hours ago, Lanny said:

Another follow-on. Yesterday, in the afternoon, I noticed the web page of UNC CH about Covid-19 Financial Aid was updated and they mentioned the Cares Act funds for students. Progress!  That's excellent news for DD and hopefully they will begin processing the payments to the eligible students, ASAP.  There were few details, but the fact that the web page was updated is very encouraging. Fingers crossed that DD will qualify and receive the funds by Direct Deposit to her bank account.

Neither of my kids schools have posted details about dispersement yet—one says it is still looking into what to use for criteria. I’m hoping they’ll get some help, especially my dd who lost her student-worker job, but we’ll see. Jobs this summer will be tricky to come by... so much up in the air! Hopefully your dd gets help.

[G5052]

Yes, my college has been handing that out for needy students. They also did an online fundraiser where someone matched donations so the pot was even bigger. Last I heard, they had distributed over $1 M and were still working through another round of applications. 

[whitestavern]

D did not receive anything 😞 1950 out of 2200 students did. We did not fill out a FAFSA last year because she had a great merit package (and it was a forced transfer post FAFSA deadline due to a drop in her original school's FA). We did submit it this year because we have a son attending college this fall. It would've been very very helpful as it is probable D won't get a job this summer so will have nothing to contribute to her tuition.

[fourisenough]

Each of my older DDs received $500 from the CARES funding through their college. I was shocked as we don’t complete FAFSA/take any financial aid. (That’s not to say they/we don’t need the money! Both will have difficulty finding work this summer and oldest is facing a long wait until hospitals begin hiring new nurses again.)

Edited May 17, 2020 by fourisenough

[Chris in VA]

Dd told us she applied. Dhe wasn't automatically eligible but was allowed to fill out an itemized application detailing the financial impact Covid had on her. Because we had to continue paying rent on an apartment near campus, and she could not live there with campus closed (for several reasons),  they gave her $1000. 

[Lanny]

Carolina now has information on their web site about the CARES Act HEERF funds they received (or will receive).  "Students should expect to receive the funds not requiring an application in later July or August 2020."  Hoping they can do it before that, but better late than never...

[elegantlion]

I received half of what I asked for. I was prepared to consider that month of rent just a loss, but I'm glad I got something back. It's interesting to see how different institutions divided the money. Ds ended up getting more than twice of what I did and did not apply. 

[Bootsie]

I found out that my son's university did not accept the CARES money.  I had not kept up with the story, but apparently a number of universities have not accepted the money or are returning the money. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/22/politics/harvard-coronavirus-funds/index.html (My son is not at Harvard.)  

[teachermom2834]

Funny this should get bumped up today. I was shocked to see my ds got a second check. I guess they had funds left over and those that had six hours this summer were eligible for more. Definitely helped him and he did actually lose his job due to Covid and he did not collect unemployment but it still seems like he has gotten much more than many other people. I feel a little weird about that. It definitely was an unusual program put through quickly. 

[easypeasy]

10 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

Funny this should get bumped up today. I was shocked to see my ds got a second check. I guess they had funds left over and those that had six hours this summer were eligible for more. Definitely helped him and he did actually lose his job due to Covid and he did not collect unemployment but it still seems like he has gotten much more than many other people. I feel a little weird about that. It definitely was an unusual program put through quickly. 

 

I wonder if this is what happened to me too. I'm taking college courses myself and received the CARES emails, but never applied for $ since we weren't in a COVID-related hardship. Then last week, an email popped up that I had $ in my account and, sure enough! I have ~$400 credit in my account! I was confused since I'd never applied, but this might be the explanation...

[RootAnn]

At my DD's school, they used the FAFSA to determine who was eligible to apply for CARES funds. Those with EFCs below $20,000 (who had filled out the FAFSA, obviously) got an email allowing them to apply. According to the school, only about two-thirds of the students eligible applied. They still have a lot of money left to distribute. They started the process late so the first of the money just started going out a couple weeks ago.

There are a lot of kids who have large tuition merit scholarships at my DD's school so it is my understanding that quite a few parents don't fill out the FAFSA. This likely affected the number of eligible students.

https://www.uah.edu/vpsa/cares-funding

UAH expects to receive $2,839,879 to be awarded as Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students.

As of June 10, 2020:

3090 students have been identified as eligible and offered an opportunity to apply.

1800+ students have applied.

1109 students have been awarded.

$642,179 funding awarded.

[teachermom2834]

My oldest ds who graduated in May just last week got a check from the CARES fund at his school and he didn't apply for it and he had scholarships covering everything so very little need. The timing of it does seem as though they had money leftover and needed to distribute more of it. 

[katilac]

You have to apply at dd's school, which she didn't do bc we figure there are definitely students who need it more. They gave everyone a $200 credit toward summer classes, which was great bc she already planned to take a couple. 

We also decided to use a semester of her state scholarship for summer tuition; it is less money than a standard semester, but we are dubious about the funds being there for the next two years. 

[teachermom2834]

29 minutes ago, katilac said:

 

We also decided to use a semester of her state scholarship for summer tuition; it is less money than a standard semester, but we are dubious about the funds being there for the next two years. 

I'm of the mind to use those kind of funds while they are available never knowing what the future holds. We have a state de grant. Once you go over a certain number of classes you can access more money but it comes off what is available for undergrad. At one point in time we considered saving it for undergrad but then decided we would use it while we had access to it and not count on it still being there later.

[MerryAtHope]

Both of my kids’ schools ended up doing disbursements based on FAFSA, and didn’t require applications. However, both schools made applications for additional funds available based on certain criteria for students who experienced additional need.

[elegantlion]

I also got a second check this week. I don't know if they disbursed that amount to everyone or just those that had initially applied. 

[Lanny]

Last week DD received an updated Financial Aid thing from UNC. She will receive 2.6X of what I had hoped that she would receive. 🙂 Thank you God! Thank you Carolina! Thank you CARES ACT!     🙂

I noticed that the Federal Work-Study program is not listed on the new Financial Aid, and doubt that she could have earned that much before the Covid-19 issues. Now, earning that much money seems much more unlikely. There are also some other changes in the Financial Aid.  I believe with this change in Financial Aid, DD will have more $.   🙂

Here's the URL of the information on the Carolina web site:
https://www.unc.edu/coronavirus/emergency-grant-funding/

[teachermom2834]

My ds also has CARES money in financial aid offer for this upcoming fall and spring. I initally grumbled about him being left out of the stimulus but he got alot of CARES money. His school must have received a massive amount to disperse. He got payments for spring and summer and now both upcoming semesters. 

[Lanny]

My DD sent me a message this morning (06 August 2020). The $ from the CARES Act HEERF funds is now in her bank account. That is a blessing from God, UNC and the U.S. Government.  🙂

Also, UNC took 2.5 million dollars of the money they received that was for the school, and they moved that 2.5 million dollars into the funds for the students.  They also see need for another 6 million dollars, to help other students they want to help. Possibly they will set up a fund to raise that 6 million dollars, so alumni can donate to that fund or possibly it will come from other sources?

[Reefgazer]

On 4/26/2020 at 10:13 PM, teachermom2834 said:

My ds got a message from his school that they would like to distribute some of their CARES money from the federal relief bill to needy students who have suffered financially from the Covid disruption. It will about make up what he didn’t get in stimulus because we claimed him as a dependent and he certainly has suffered financially as his job was with Major League Baseball. 
 

I had seen how the schools got this money and were supposed to spend on students but I didn’t know what that would look like. In his case it is going to be cash directly to him. So that’s nice.Just wondered if anyone else had heard if they will benefit. 

DD's school is doing this through the online portal of her large state university.