American Council on Education Simulates Distribution of CARES Act Emergency Funds – NASFAA
In the wake of the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress last week, colleges and universities across the country are beginning to consider how the legislation might impact their campuses. In an effort to provide schools with a rough estimate of how much emergency assistance they may receive from the Emergency Stabilization Fund included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the American Council on Education (ACE) conducted a simulation of the distribution of emergency funds for every institution of higher education. The estimates, organized alphabetically by state, can be viewed here.
The CARES Act allocates nearly $14 billion to higher education in an Emergency Stabilization Fund. Ninety percent, or $12.5 billion, of that amount will be allocated to institutions based 75% on the enrollment of full-time equivalent (FTE) Pell Grant recipients and 25% on enrollment of FTE non-Pell Grant recipients. Students who were enrolled exclusively in online, distance education courses prior to the COVID-19 emergency will be excluded from this calculation.