CARES Act Emergency Grants to Students Required Information (updated October 27, 2020)
- On June 10, 2020, Gettysburg College returned a signed Certification and Agreement to the U.S. Department of Education assuring that no less than 50 percent of funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act would be distributed to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to eligible Gettysburg students.
- On June 16, 2020, Gettysburg College received notice that the College’s signed Certification and Agreement was accepted and the funds were available to the College for drawdown.
- In accordance with the College’s Certification and Agreement, Gettysburg College received $828,017 from the U.S. Department of Education to distribute as Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students. The funds were drawn down on July 14, 2020.
- Gettysburg College estimates that 1,873 Gettysburg students are eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are thus eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to student under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.
- On July 15, 2020, Gettysburg College distributed a total of $828,017 in Emergency Financial Aid Grants to 608 students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.
- To be eligible, students must have been:
- currently enrolled at the time of the grant disbursement
- enrolled for the spring 2020 semester in at least one ground-based class and in a Title IV eligible degree-seeking or certificate program at the time of the disruption of campus operations on March 13, 2020
- Following guidance from the U.S. Department of Education, Gettysburg College established three operational principles to determine the methodology to be used for the distribution of funds Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act:
- Student success and support. The change to remote, online learning due to the coronavirus caused Gettysburg College students to incur additional financial expenses related to their education.
- Impact and equity. All Gettysburg College students have experienced some type of additional costs due to the COVID-19 with varied negative impacts on students depending on their socioeconomic background. Students should receive different amounts of funding based on their level of need.
- Timeliness and administrative efficiency. Ensure access for any student experiencing a loss to receive emergency grants with minimal administrative process.
- Based on the three operational principles described above, the following method was used to determine recipients and funding levels:
- On June 19, 2020, all eligible students were sent an email to their official gettysburg.edu address from the Student Accounts office. Eligible students received one of two versions of this email, based on whether they had a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on file with the College, or did not have a FAFSA on file with the College. Both versions of the email included the following information:
- Notice that Gettysburg College was awarded federal funds through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
- A listing of expenses that could be considered for CARES Act emergency grant assistance if incurred in direct relation to the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19. Eligible expenses include food, housing, course materials, health care, child care technology and transportation.
- Eligibility requirements to receive CARES Act funding.
- How to request funds through the survey application link included in the email and the deadline for requesting funds of July 3 (extended to July 5).
- How funds would be distributed
- A second, reminder email was sent on Friday, June 26 to all students who had not yet submitted a survey response to remind them of the available CARES Act emergency grant funding and the deadline to request funds.
- On Tuesday, July 7 the Student Accounts office sent a final email to any student who had not opened the original email, with a final reminder to submit a request for funds.
- Students requesting funding were assigned a level based on their expected family contribution (EFC) on file with the Financial Aid office. The following levels were used:
- EFC of $10,000 or less
- EFC between $10,001 and $20,000
- EFC greater than $20,000
- The grant amounts were calculated by determining a base amount for students with an EFC between $10,001 and $20,000 ($1,279.78) and then increasing the funding amount 50% for students with an EFC of $10,000 or less ($1,919.67) and decreasing the funding amount by 50% for students with an EFC greater than $20,000 ($639.88).
- On June 19, 2020, all eligible students were sent an email to their official gettysburg.edu address from the Student Accounts office. Eligible students received one of two versions of this email, based on whether they had a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on file with the College, or did not have a FAFSA on file with the College. Both versions of the email included the following information:
- On Tuesday, July 14, all CARES Act student emergency grants were posted to students accounts to be automatically disbursed on Wednesday, July 15th either by direct deposit or check (under the same process used for student refunds).
- The Student Accounts office sent out an email to all students receiving funds on Tuesday, July 14 notifying them of the amount of their grant and that the funds would be disbursed on Wednesday, July 15.
- CARES Act Institutional Portion Required Response (updated October 27, 2020): Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion Final Quarterly Report.