Guilford College: American Rescue Plan

Press release from Guilford College:

October 4, 2021

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) included additional COVID-19 relief for institutions of higher education. This new COVID stimulus bill included $40 billion, available through Sept. 30, 2023, for higher-education institutions and students, using the same Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) model established in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Guilford College received $4,697,000 through the American Rescue Plan. The ARP HEERF III funds require that 50 percent of an institution's funds be spent on student grants, with the exception of for-profit institutions, which must spend 100 percent of their funds on student grants. In addition, the allowable uses of funds are nearly identical to the CRRSA HEERF II (/heerf_ii) funding as illustrated below.  

Student Portion — Institutions may award student grants for: 

• Any component of their cost of attendance
• Emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus, such as: tuition; food; housing; health care (including mental); child care 

Institutional Portion — Institutions may use the grants toward: 

• Defray expenses associated with coronavirus including:  
  • Lost revenue 
  • Reimbursement for expenses already incurred 
  • Technology costs associated with a transition to distance education 
  • Faculty and staff trainings 
  • Payroll 
  • Make additional financial aid grants to students 

Institutions must use a portion of their allocation for: 

• Implementing evidence-based practices to monitor and and suppress coronavirus in accordance with public health guidelines; and  
• Conduct direct outreach to financial aid applicants about the opportunity to receive a financial aid adjustment due to the recent unemployment of a family member or independent student, or other circumstances

Guilford College created an ARP Emergency Grant application that was emailed to all students. Students could ask for emergency funds to be applied to their student account directly or refunded to them via direct deposit or paper check. The Director of Financial Aid and the Dean of Students worked in tandem to review applications and award eligible students. 

To date, Guilford College has received 412 applications for emergency funds. We have just started reviewing these applications and have recently awarded 142 unduplicated students a total of $35,541. Review of emergency fund applications are ongoing and more awards will be made this week.  

If you have any questions about the CRRSA Emergency funds for students, please contact the Office of Financial Aid at financialaid@guilford.edu.

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This press release was produced by Guilford College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.