This University Was Allotted More Cares Act Money Than Any Other. None of It Has Gone to Students. – The Chronicle of Higher Education
When Arizona State University transitioned to online-only classes in March, Ja’Mya Williams’s grades began to fall.
Without a laptop, the campus library, and her after-class tutoring, the freshman biological-sciences major was forced to complete her assignments on her cellphone or at her friend’s house, and struggled to keep up with her honors-level courses.
In order to maintain her GPA to stay on track to get into medical school, she dropped three courses in April. As a result, she lost her financial aid for the semester, she said, which put her in debt, uncertain whether she could afford to attend Arizona State in the fall. Looking for help, she contacted the honors college and the financial-aid office.
Arizona State had access to a pot of money intended to help students just like Williams. The institution was allotted more federal money from the stimulus relief package within the Cares Act than any other university in the country: $63.5 million, at least half of which must go directly to students whose lives were disrupted by the coronavirus.