CARES Act
Cares Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund – Consumer Information
The CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) provides funding for emergency financial aid grants. The disruption of campus operations has directly impacted eligible students due to COVID-19, including noted eligible expenses such as on-campus room and board services. Find more comprehensive information from the Department of Education.
North Greenville University acknowledges that it signed and returned to the U.S. Department of Education (DoE) the Certification and Agreement on April 17, 2020, with the assurance that the institution has used, or intends to use, no less than 50% of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Student Grants to students.
The institution received notification from the U.S. Department of Education on April 27, 2020, that the first half of the HEERF funds were made available. NGU received a total of $2,143,104 from the U. S. Department of Education and designated a minimum of $1,071,552 in emergency grants for eligible students. Following the guidance provided by the DoE, only students that have submitted a 19-20 FAFSA will be considered for emergency funding. Students enrolled exclusively in online degree programs, and ineligible non-citizens do not qualify for these grants.
The University currently has an estimated 1,364 traditional undergraduate students and 55 PA Medicine program students eligible to receive Emergency Student Grants under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act. As of the most recent date of this reporting, a total of $1,182,200 in Emergency Student Grant funds have been provided to 1,079 eligible students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.
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Eligible Undergraduate Residential Students
The Emergency Student Grants provided directly to eligible residential students represent the calculated expense to assist students with housing and food expenses related to the disruption of campus services, including room and board services.
University leadership carefully assessed the average expense incurred by each residential student for housing and meal expenses based on the week that it was determined that the school would not resume in-person courses. The $1,200 grant provided to residential students represents this calculated average expense.
Grant funds were provided directly to eligible students by paper check sent by U. S. Mail to the permanent mailing address on file for each student, beginning the week of May 4, 2020. A cover letter was also sent with each check giving information about the grant.
Residential students that had not previously submitted a 2019-2020 FAFSA were sent two communication reminders via their NGU email encouraging them to submit the FAFSA by May 22 for further consideration of the grant.
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Eligible Undergraduate Commuting Students
Eligible undergraduate commuting students were provided the opportunity to apply for consideration of an Emergency Student Grant if they had incurred eligible expenses directly related to the disruption of campus operations due to the coronavirus pandemic, including noted eligible expenses such as food, course materials, health care, childcare, technology, transportation, etc.
Eligible students were given direction via their NGU email beginning the week of May 16, 2020 on how to apply for consideration of this grant program on the NGU student portal using an online form. The deadline to apply for consideration was May 31, 2020.
Commuting students that had not previously submitted a 2019-2020 FAFSA were sent two communication reminders via their NGU email encouraging them to submit the FAFSA for further consideration of the grant.
The grant amount provided per student was based on consideration of the noted eligible expense(s) indicated on the student request form, as well as consideration of financial need using the student’s EFC from their 2019-20 FAFSA.
Financial Need Categories:
Category EFC Range Grant Amount Federal Pell Grant Recipients $0 to $5,576 $500 Higher Need $5,577 to $20,000 $250 Lower Need Greater than $20,000 $150 Grant funds were provided directly to eligible commuting students by paper check sent by U. S. Mail to the permanent mailing address on file for each student, beginning the week of June 15, 2020. A cover letter was also sent with each check giving information about the grant.
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Eligible PA Medicine Program Students
The Emergency Student Grants provided directly to eligible PA Medicine program students represents the calculated expense to assist students with direct costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction. For our clinical students, they missed a full rotation that will have to be rescheduled for the Fall, as well as another rotation that was moved from in-person to online. For our didactic students, they lost access to the simulation center, learning models, in-person physical exam instruction, and study spaces.
Eligible PA students enrolled during the SP20 semester each received a $500 Emergency Student Grant to account for a partial refund due to significant changes to the delivery of instruction and disrupted access to essential learning tools as noted above. Grant funds were provided directly to eligible students by ACH deposit beginning the week of July 20, 2020. An email was sent to each student providing information about the grant.
Students that had not previously submitted a 2019-2020 FAFSA were sent an email to their NGU email account encouraging them to submit a 2020-2021 FAFSA by August 3rd for consideration. (The 2019-2020 FAFSA filing period expired on June 30.)