Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds
HEERF I - Funded by the CARES Act
Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) Funding
Monmouth College has signed and returned to the Department of Education, the Certification and Agreement Form required and has received $1,069,404 in federal CARES Act funding. No less than 50% of this funding ($534,702) must be used to provide emergency grants directly to students in recognition of the additional expense they will incur as a result of COVID-19, the disruption of the Spring 2020 term and their relocation home. The remaining 50% of the CARES funding may be used by the institution to offset additional expenses incurred directly by the institution as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Monmouth College did not elect to utilize a lengthy application nor review process. Rather, we utilized the current financial aid records and need analysis already used by the Student Financial Planning Office in conjunction with the costs incurred by each individual student for such things housing and food and developed a formula to automate the determination and proration of funding for each student. Amounts disbursed varied depending on the individual student’s costs and financial assistance.
Funding was disbursed through the Student Financial Planning Office directly to student accounts for tracking purposes. However, funds were disbursed directly to students by check or direct deposit bypassing any existing past due balance on student accounts. This enabled Monmouth College to get these federal CARES Act funds into the hands of students/families quickly.
Student Portion
It was determined that approximately 830 students met the requirements of the federal government and were eligible to be considered for the CARES funding in the spring of 2020. Ultimately, with the formula used by the college, we distributed funds to 727 students. As of June 30, 2020, we had distributed $865,167.
Per federal guidance, International students and DACA students were not included in the distribution of CARES funding and were instead provided funding directly from Monmouth College in the amount of $21,627. Commuter students were omitted from this process as they incurred no disruption/relocation nor additional expenses for food and/or housing. Students who were unable to return home and remained on campus throughout the spring semester, were omitted from consideration. All other Title IV eligible students were considered for a portion of the emergency grants.
As of 09/30/20, the information including number of students assisted and the dollar amounts disbursed remains the same as reported on 06/30/2020. The student portion of the funds have been exhausted.
As of 12/31/20, the information including number of students assisted and the dollar amounts disbursed remains the same as reported on 06/30/2020. The student portion of funds have been exhausted.
As of 03/31/21, the information including number of students assisted and the dollar amounts disbursed remains the same as reported on 06/30/2020. The student portion of the funds have been exhausted.
HEERF II - Funded by the CRRSAA Act
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA Act) Funding
Monmouth College has signed and returned to the Department of Education, the Certification and Agreement Form required and has received $1,561,080 in federal CRRSAA Act funding. No less than $534,702 must be used to provide emergency grants directly to students. The remaining $1,026,378 of the funding may be used by the institution.
In this second round of awarding, the institution felt it was important to attempt to identify those students and families who were truly the most negatively impacted by COVID-19 and/or who were perhaps struggling in silence. In an attempt to identify impacted families, we created a simply application process. It was our goal to ensure students had an opportunity to graduate and/or continue to pursue their degree from Monmouth College uninterrupted. We divided the student population into waves and mailed out the applications accordingly. In wave one, we mailed applications to the families of freshman and sophomores who appeared to have exhausted all options in traditional sources of aid. In other words, the families had received grant dollars, and in addition, appeared to have exhausted all federal loans options. In wave two, we mailed to similar junior students. In wave three, we mailed applications to all remaining returning students. In wave four, we sent applications to new incoming prospective students. As this application process was occurring in the months of April and May 2021, the institution felt we could ensure that our seniors could graduate and we did not mail applications to the graduating seniors.
It was our hope and our intention that in collecting the simple application along with income tax returns and/or W-2’s from families we could consider families not only for the federal HEERF funds, but it would also allow our staff to perform professional judgement adjustments to the FAFSA when appropriate and allow these families to collect additional aid through the existing/more traditional student aid programs for the 2021-2022 academic year.
Although there has been significant financial devastation caused by COVID-19, our application process and the income tax forms collected from families have indicated that many families who lost employment more than replaced their annual income through the enhanced unemployment benefits.
In June of 2021, we ultimately decided that so few families (approximately 12% of our student body) applied for the emergency HEERF Grants, that we could ration dollars out to all students in order to spend the significant funding provided by the federal government. We felt we had performed our due diligence in an attempt to identify the families most negatively impacted and we awarded significant funding to those families. We then proceeded to ration dollars to students on a rolling basis. In this process, we allowed Spring 2021 graduates to receive a portion of the emergency grants.
Per federal guidance, International students and DACA students were not included in the distribution of CRRSAA (HEERF II) funding and were instead provided funding through American Rescue Plan (ARP)/HEERF III funding.
Student Portion
As of June 30, 2021:
$148,000 HEERF II funds were disbursed via check to 148 graduates from Spring 2021.
(In addition, $17,000 HEERF III funds were disbursed to 17 graduates who did not qualify for HEERF II funds.)
$60,500 HEERF II funds were disbursed to 19 returning students via check.
$3,500 HEERF II funds were disbursed to 2 returning students’ accounts (with their permission) during the Spring 2021 semester.
In addition, $140,000 HEERF II funds are scheduled to disburse to the accounts of 41 returning students (with their permission) for the Fall of 2021 semester.
Funds have been offered to new prospective students for the Fall of 2021, but funds will only be disbursed to these students when they ultimately enroll at Monmouth. A dollar amount and number of student recipients will be provided in future quarterly reports.
The remaining HEERF II funds will be disbursed/rationed to returning students in the fall of 2021. Future reports will identify the dollars spent and number of student recipients.
As of September 30, 2021:
The entire $534,702 of the HEERF II funds (student portion) have been awarded and disbursed to 266 students.
$306,102 was disbursed to 94 student accounts with permission of the student to help offset their cost of attendance.
$228,600 was disbursed directly to 172 students via check.
HEERF III - Funded by the ARP Act
American Rescue Plan Act (ARP Act) Funding
Monmouth College has signed and returned to the Department of Education, the Certification and Agreement Form required and has received $2,749,332 in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). No less than 50% ($1,374,666) of this funding must be used to provide emergency grants directly to students. The remaining 50% may be used by the institution.
In this third round of funding, Monmouth College will follow the philosophy developed in round two and continue to ration dollars to enrolled students. We have a simple application (4 questions) which allows families to provide us additional information about their financial hardships and we will consider these families for additional HEERF funding beyond the typical rationing. For an application, please contact the Student Financial Planning Office at 309-457-2129 or by email at: finaid@monmouthcollege.edu
Student Portion
As of 06/30/21, Monmouth College has disbursed $17,000 via check to 17 students who graduated in the Spring of 2021 and who qualify for funding under the HEERF III per federal guidance. Additional dollars will be disbursed under HEERF III, when we have exhausted the HEERF II funding.
As of September 30, 2021:
$1,307,198 of the HEERF III funds (student portion) have been awarded and disbursed to 698 students.
$1,171,098 was disbursed to 611 student accounts with permission of the student to help offset their cost of attendance.
$136,100 was disbursed directly to 87 students via check.
As of December 31, 2021:
$1,316,598 of the HEERF III funds (student portion) have been awarded and disbursed to 701 students.
$138,000 was disbursed directly to 88 students via check.
$1,178,598 was disbursed to 613 student accounts with permission of the student to help offset their cost of attendance.
An additional $26,150 have been awarded and scheduled to disburse for the Spring 2022 semester.
This leaves the institution with just $31,918 (of the $1,374,666 total) remaining to award.
As of March 31, 2022:
$1,374,666 of the HEERF III funds (student portion) have been awarded and disbursed to 733 students.
$139,980 was disbursed directly to 96 students via check.
$1,234,686 was disbursed to 637 student accounts with permission of the student to help offset their cost of attendance.
All funds for the HEERF IIII have been exhausted.
Institutional Portion
1st Qtr: Ending 09/30/20
2nd Qtr: Ending 12/31/20
3rd Qtr: Ending 03/31/21
4th Qtr: Ending 06/30/21
1st Qtr: Ending 09/30/21
2nd Qtr: Ending 12/31/21
3rd Qtr: Ending 03/31/22