Why 25,000 PSU students will receive cash grants of up to $1K to cover coronavirus-related expenses
Nearly 1 in 3 Penn State students — about 25,000 in all — are set to receive cash grants of up to $1,000 apiece from the university’s share of a federal relief fund to cover expenses related to the global pandemic, the university announced Wednesday.
About 23,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate, law and medical students will receive the grants “soon after the funding is made available” by the U.S. Department of Education. A second round of funding, which has the potential to help an additional 2,000-plus students, will take place some time afterward.
“Knowing that a significant number of our students have experienced financial hardship, we want to make as deep of an impact as possible with this funding to reach as many students as we can who have incurred expenses as a result of the necessary shift to remote instruction,” Penn State President Eric Barron said in a news release.
The funding came as a result of the $1.8 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was signed into law March 27. The Department of Education received nearly $14 billion and passed along $6.28 billion to colleges and universities — of which Penn State received $55 million, half of which is set aside for students.
Full-time and part-time students who qualified for the initial round of funding will receive an email “in the coming weeks,” per the university, and will need to formally accept the funding. The cash grants will then be sent via direct deposit for those who have eRefund and, for those who do not, a paper check will be mailed to the student’s permanent address.
Students were given grants based on family income and other data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), with the focus on Pell Grant-eligible and lower-income students. Those who have not completed the FAFSA, or will not receive a grant in the initial round, can apply for Round 2 aid.
Details on the second round of funding — which will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and will amount to about $2 million total — will be announced “soon.”
Students from all Penn State campus locations are eligible for the cash grants, with the exception of World Campus. (Federal requirements prevent online-only students from being eligible for such emergency aid.) According to Penn State’s Factbook, 81,721 students were enrolled at a physical campus last fall — with 46,723 at University Park.
“We are committed to making these funds available to our students as quickly as possible,” said Damon Sims, vice president for Student Affairs, “as we know from the large number of applicants to the university’s Student Emergency Fund — which has awarded more than $280,000 to students since the pandemic began — just how urgently this relief is needed.”
The university announced March 11, during spring break, that all classroom learning would move to remote instruction starting March 16 amid concerns surrounding COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. It is unknown when in-person instruction will definitely resume, but Penn State is currently hoping to reopen in the fall.
Barron said April 23 the university had already lost more than $100 million due to the coronavirus.
Based on data provided by the state Department of Health, there are currently 47 confirmed positive cases of the coronavirus within the immediate area surrounding the University Park campus — in the ZIP codes 16801, 16802 and 16803.
