[Wsssc] FW: Emergency Financial Aid Grants, CARES Act
Joe Holliday
jholliday at sbctc.edu
Wed Apr 22 13:19:46 PDT 2020
WSSSC: see below and at link. The presidents were briefed on this today, and Ha just sent this to the Financial Aid Council. We can circle back to it on the WSSSC call tomorrow if desired.
[Joe]
[Compass]
Joe Holliday
Director, Student Services
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
jholliday at sbctc.edu<mailto:jholliday at sbctc.edu>* o: 360-704-4334 * f: 360-704-4418
sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/> * Twitter: @SBCTCWashington<https://twitter.com/SBCTCWashington> * Facebook: @WASBCTC<https://www.facebook.com/wasbctc/>
SBCTC Vision:
"Leading with racial equity, our colleges maximize student potential and transform lives within a culture of belonging that advances racial, social, and economic justice in service to our diverse communities."
From: Ha Nguyen <hnguyen at sbctc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 1:15 PM
To: Financial Aid Directors <dirfinaid at lists.ctc.edu>; mssdc (mssdc at lists.ctc.edu) <mssdc at lists.ctc.edu>; CUSP (cusp at lists.ctc.edu) <cusp at lists.ctc.edu>; WA Opportunity Grant Program <oppgrant at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Carli Schiffner <cschiffner at sbctc.edu>; Joe Holliday <jholliday at sbctc.edu>; Scott Copeland <scopeland at sbctc.edu>; Jon Kerr <jkerr at sbctc.edu>; William Durden <wdurden at sbctc.edu>; John Ginther <jginther at sbctc.edu>; Cherie Berthon <cberthon at sbctc.edu>; Arlen Harris <aharris at sbctc.edu>; Ana Ybarra <aybarra at sbctc.edu>; Nate Humphrey <nhumphrey at sbctc.edu>; Kristi Wellington Baker <kwellingtonbaker at sbctc.edu>; Mark Jenkins <mjenkins at sbctc.edu>; Jamilyn Penn <jpenn at sbctc.edu>; Bill Moore <bmoore at sbctc.edu>; Darby Kaikkonen <dkaikkonen at sbctc.edu>; Jamie Traugott <jtraugott at sbctc.edu>
Subject: Emergency Financial Aid Grants, CARES Act
Hello, Colleagues:
As your college begins to finalize its policies and processes for distributing the emergency financial aid grants portion of the CARES Act, please refer to the FAQs: Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students<https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerfstudentfaqs.pdf> from the Department of Education's COVID-19 briefing on the CARES Act for Higher Education Stakeholders held on Tuesday, April 21. This is NEW guidance from the Department and should be used to inform the application, distribution, and documentation processes of these funds at your college.
Important points to remember:
* Only students who are or could be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), may receive emergency financial aid grants. **Per the Ability to Benefit (ATB) provision of the HEA, students without a high school credential who are enrolled in Title IV eligible programs may also qualify for federal financial aid. At this time, we are pursuing clarification and further guidance for this provision. Additional information forthcoming.
* Emergency financial aid grants must go directly to students.
* The disbursement of the emergency financial aid grant to the student must remain unencumbered by the institution; any debts, charges, fees, or other amounts owed to the institution may not be deducted from the emergency financial aid grant prior to disbursing. However, after receiving the grant, students can choose to pay any outstanding account balances via cash, check, or credit card.
* Colleges must document 1) the method in which the grants were distributed to students; 2) how the amount of each grant was calculated; and 3) any instructions or directions that the institution gave to students about the grant. Additional information will be forthcoming.
* Colleges who have already disbursed emergency financial aid grants from their own institutional funds may use the CARES Act funds to reimburse themselves for grants made on or after March 27th (the date the CARES Act was enacted) and to students who are eligible to receive the funds for authorized expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus. Colleges must document that reimbursements for institutionally-funded emergency grants to students are made in accordance with the CARES Act.
Critical considerations:
* Students who are struggling financially may not reach out for assistance (or may not have access to information on the emergency aid). Increase deliberate outreach and utilize various means of connecting to students, particularly students of color and other minoritized groups.
* Leverage all forms of student funding supports, including workforce education grants and Opportunity Grant.
* When sending the notification of an emergency financial aid award to the student, provide a list of other COVID-19 resources in the area.
* Maximize equity by keeping red tape for students to a minimum. Maximize impact by ensuring that the application and distribution processes are quick. Maximize efficiency by imposing as little administrative burden as possible on program staff.
* Be mindful of any biases and/or ways of thinking/doing that may interfere with the full intent of the emergency aid. Suspend judgment and seek understanding. Consult and collaborate with your colleagues and advocate for the students who are most severely impacted by COVID-19.
* Listen to and trust your students, and take the time to make a connection.
Students of color, particularly our Black, Latinx, Native, and refugee/immigrant students, are less likely to have the resources to weather a major public health emergency. According to our system's #RealCollege survey, rates of food insecurity are higher among Hispanic or Latinx (47%), Black (54%), and Indigenous (57%) students while students who identify as Middle Eastern, North African, Arab, or Arab American (26%), Indigenous (27%), and American Indian or Alaskan Native (33%) experience the highest rates of homelessness. Emergency financial aid grants provided by the CARES Act can help ensure our communities of color and other vulnerable populations have access to the resources they need during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank you endlessly for the incredible work you do on behalf of our students, particularly during this very challenging time. Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions.
Take good care and be well,
Ha
[Compass]Ha T. Nguyen (she|her|hers)
Policy Associate|Student Services
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
hnguyen at sbctc.edu<mailto:hnguyen at sbctc.edu> * o: 360-704-4319 * c: 253.279.4299
sbctc.edu<https://www.sbctc.edu/> * Twitter: @SBCTCWashington<https://twitter.com/SBCTCWashington> * Facebook: @WASBCTC<https://www.facebook.com/wasbctc/>
"Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered.
We must hold each other tight and continue to pull back the veil."
- Adrienne Maree Brown
_________________________________________________________________________________
SBCTC Vision
"Leading with racial equity, our colleges maximize student potential and transform lives
within a culture of belonging that advances racial, social, and economic justice
in service to our diverse communities."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/wsssc_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20200422/950aaa74/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 629079 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/wsssc_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20200422/950aaa74/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1447 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/wsssc_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20200422/950aaa74/attachment-0005.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image006.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2623 bytes
Desc: image006.jpg
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/wsssc_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20200422/950aaa74/attachment-0006.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image007.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2628 bytes
Desc: image007.jpg
URL: <http://lists.ctc.edu/pipermail/wsssc_lists.ctc.edu/attachments/20200422/950aaa74/attachment-0007.jpg>
More information about the wsssc
mailing list