Cares Act Grant Awards

On April 9, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that $6.28 billion (50% of the CARES Act funding) will be distributed to higher educational institutions to provide direct emergency cash grants to college students whose lives and educations have been disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak. These funds are available through the CARES Act signed into law by President Donald J. Trump in March 2020.

Each College’s allocation was derived by a formula prescribed in the CARES Act that is weighted significantly by the number of full-time students who are Pell-eligible but also takes into consideration the total population of the school and the number of students who were not enrolled full-time online before the coronavirus outbreak. The Department of Education (DOE) utilized the most recent data available from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Federal Student Aid (FSA) for this calculation.

Coastal Alabama Community College signed the Certification Agreement to participate in the Cares Act.

Coastal Alabama Community Colleges awarded:

Total Student Awards	$2,218,881.00
502 Housing Grants Awarded	$469,595.00
4148 Eligible Student Grants Awarded	$1,749,286.00

Cares Act Grant eligible recipients had to meet the following guidelines per federal requirements as of March 16, 2020:

1. Be enrolled in at least one (1) brick and mortar class.
2. Be eligible to complete a FAFSA
3. Have a valid Social Security Number
4. Males must be registered with Selective Service
5. Students must have a High School Diploma or GED
6. Students must be degree-seeking

Coastal Alabama Community College is issuing two (2) separate awards.

1.  The first award is for eligible housing students. Awards were calculated based on days that duplicated expenses were possibly incurred as a result of having paid College room and board and having to live elsewhere due to a mandatory shut down of College campuses per health orders.

The chart below outlines refund calculations for Room and Board depending on eligible students’ expenses based on housing assignment: (Grant awards were rounded up)

	Bay Minette Dorm			Brewton Dorm
	Thompson	Sun Chief	Cafeteria	Lake View Housing
Total Days	121	121	84	121	121	121
Rate	$1,500.00	$1,700.00	$1,200.00	$1,500.00	$1,000.00	$965.00
Cost per Day	$12.40	$14.05	$14.29	$12.40	$8.26	$7.98
Refund Days	45	45	33	45	45	45
Refund Days	$557.85	$632.23	$471.43	$557.85	$371.90	$358.88

 

Housing Options	Actual Housing Grant Awards
Sun Chief (Room/Meals)	$1,105.00
Thompson Hall (Room/Meals)	$1,030.00
Lake View Housing (Room $1500)	$560.00
Lake View Housing (Room $1000)	$375.00
Lake View Housing (Room $965)	$360.00

2. The second Care Act award is for eligible students. The award rate was calculated by taking eligible students total credit hours and dividing them into the remaining College award amount, after the deduction of room and board, this resulted in an eligible calculated credit hour rate of $35.50.

Eligible Credit Hours	49,263
Cares Stimulus Funds	$1,749,286.00
Credit Hour Values	$35.50

Below is the credit hour award table based on the credit hours of enrollment for each eligible student:

Credit Hours	CARE Award
1	$35.50
2	$71.00
3	$106.50
4	$142.00
5	$177.50
6	$213.00
7	$248.50
8	$284.00
9	$319.00
10	$355.00
11	$390.50
12	$426.00
13	$461.00
14	$497.00
15	$532.00
16	$568.00
17	$603.00
18	$639.00
19	$674.50
20	$710.00
21	$745.50
22	$781.00

2021 Funds: CRRSAA (formerly referenced as HEERF II) Grant

Students that receive this notification link have been awarded a 2021 Funds: CRRSAA (formerly referenced as HEERF II) Grant.

Under the Act the following criteria were set:

Eligibility for CRRSAA Student awards: a) The Federal government has excluded DACA students from direct student awards under CRRSAA. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the college to determine citizenship status as normal college practices dictate.

b) The requirement that students be Title IV eligible to receive student awards has been removed; this includes non-degree seeking and non-credit students. It is the college’s option to include these students in their CRRSAA Student award calculations. However, if these students are included, then the selection criteria must be inclusive for all non-degree seeking and non-credit students.

Student Eligibility: What type of criteria (if any outside non-citizens) should we use to exclude students from receiving CARES student funds? a) Priority should be given to students who have financial need; the college must document how the student’s needs are prioritized.

Unlike HEERF I, enrolled students do not have to be Title IV-eligible students to receive CRRSAA funds. That is, the June 17, 2020 Interim Final Rule and Title IV general student eligibility criteria under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) [20 USC 1091(a)] do not apply when awarding CRRSAA funds.

c) However, the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) current interpretation is that undocumented, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and international students are not eligible for CRRSAA funds under 8 USC 1611(a) of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (1996 welfare reform law), which prohibits these students from receiving federal public benefits. As a condition of the Certification and Agreement for student CRRSAA grants, the school “must comply with the provisions of all applicable acts, regulations, and assurances….” This includes the welfare reform law.

d) If and how a school determines the citizenship of a student when awarding CRRSAA student grant funds is at the discretion of the school. Potential institutional considerations may range from: 1) the school feels that it needs to confirm the citizenship of each recipient by requiring them to complete the FAFSA and go through the SSA and DHS citizenship matches; to 2) the school assumes that students are citizens unless the school knows differently; to 3) the school asks students to self-certify their citizenship status.

Coastal Alabama Community College excluded students that, in additional to the criteria set about were dual enrolled high school students, transient from another institution, in which they would be eligible for an award or incarcerated.

Coastal Awards were granted as the following awards:

At disbursement time:

• Full-time and 3 quarter time students were awarded $550.
• Students that met “need” based eligibility were granted an additional $100 for a total of $650
• Half-time and less than half-time were awarded $275.
• Students that met “need” based on eligibility were granted an additional $100 for a total of $375.
• Coastal disbursed $2,259,000 to 4291 students on March 2, 2021.
• Coastal HEERF II student award was $2,218,881
• The College is supporting the additional $39,314 from its institutional share of the HEERF II funds.

 

2021 Funds:  ARP-American Rescue Plan (formerly referenced as HEERF III) Grant

Students that receive this notification link have been awarded 2021 Funds: ARP Grant

Under the Act the following criteria were set:

Eligibility for ARP Student awards:

• All students regardless of whether they completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or were eligible for Title IV, as this requirement was removed during HEERF II eligibility criteria.
• Unlike CRRSAA (HEERF II), the U.S. Department of Education ruled all students were eligible including undocumented, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and international students.

The College was awarded a total of $8,335,624 in American Rescue Plan (HEERF III) for Student Aid.  Once expended, Coastal had additional American Rescue Plan Institutional grant funds to supplement the Aid grants to students.  The College distributed these funds over two terms, Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. Students enrolled in credit courses for these terms were eligible and were emailed an application. Unlike HEERF II distributions, Coastal included dual enrollment students as well as transient students from other institutions. The need was based on the student’s choice to apply once notice was sent. Once the deadline for application passed the total number of students applying was divided into the total funds available and students were issued a max award based on available funding.

FALL 2021

Coastal disbursed $5,588,028 to 5,849 students on September 13, 2021.  These distributions were $972 per student.

SPRING 2022

Coastal disbursed $3,842,025 to 4,657 students on February 1, 2022.  These distributions were $825 per student