By SUSAN JONES
Pitt is set to receive $30.6 million under the stimulus plan passed by Congress and approved by President Trump in December, according to University spokesman.
The $900 billion Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act includes $21.2 billion in the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II, the U.S. Department of Education announced on Jan. 14. Of that, $20.5 billion is allocated to public and nonprofit colleges and universities and $681 million to proprietary, or for-profit, schools.
Like the money received from the stimulus package in April 2020, some of the money must be used for emergency grants to students. Public and non-profit schools can use the rest of the money for student support activities, and to cover institutional costs, including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll, according to news release from the Department of Education. For-profit schools must use their awards exclusively to provide financial aid grants to students.
Allocations to institutions were based on a formula that includes the relative shares of Federal Pell Grant recipients, non-Pell Grant recipients, and Federal Pell and non-Pell Grant recipients exclusively enrolled in distance education prior to the coronavirus emergency, the education department said.
In spring 2020, Pitt was awarded $21.3 million under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Around $10.6 million was used to give between $500 and $1,000 to about 11,400 students across all five campuses. See more details here.
The second half of the CARES funding was used for technology and training for the development of the Flex@Pitt hybrid teaching model, measures that helped protect the health and safety of the University community, and other restart costs for the fall term.
The Chronicle of Higher Education compiled a searchable list of all institutions of higher education that received funding under the latest stimulus bill. Arizona State University tops the list at $112.9 million. Penn State University had the fifth-highest total at nearly $85 million.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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