DeVos Formally Limits Emergency Aid – Inside Higher Ed
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos formally moves to limit emergency aid grants, though a court decision looms.
After a series of fits and starts that colleges say has confused the distribution of emergency aid grants to help students dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the Education Department finally issued an interim formal rule saying undocumented students and millions of others who are not eligible for regular student aid cannot receive the help.
In part, the department said it took the position out of fear that if colleges were able to hand out the grants to any student they wished, they could create fake classes and programs and use the grants to attract students to pad their enrollment and revenue.
Critics such as the American Council on Education, though, said they suspect Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wanted to limit who can get the grants as a way to exclude undocumented and international students. And indeed, in a statement, the department said the rule will “help to ensure taxpayer-funded coronavirus relief money is distributed properly and does not go to foreign nationals, non-citizens and students who may be enrolled in ineligible education programs.”
Grants that have already been handed out are not subject to the restriction, said the rule, which was quickly criticized by higher education institutions and advocacy groups. The rule will take effect when it is published in the Federal Register, which could happen any day.