ED Releases Details on New Grant Program for Institutions With Unmet Need – NASFAA
The Department of Education (ED) in a release on Wednesday announced the availability of a new grant program for higher education institutions, in an effort to help those that demonstrated the most need due to disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus.
The grants are to be utilized by institutions for both resuming operations and supporting students, including but not limited to reducing transmission of COVID-19 on campus, as well as developing and optimizing instructional delivery models for students who are not able to, or choose to not attend in-person classes, the release stated.
The new grant program — the Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (IREPO) grant program — is part of the pot of funds from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) set aside for schools with the greatest need. ED previously utilized some of the $350 million in the federal relief package to help institutions it deemed most impacted by the coronavirus. That money came from a provision in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act that earmarked 2.5% of the roughly $14 billion in the HEERF to create a discretionary fund for DeVos to send to colleges and universities determined “to have the most unmet need related to coronavirus.”