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Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Financial Aid Grants

Updated July 7, 2022

HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND (HEERF) GRANTS TO STUDENTS AND INSTITUTIONAL AID

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES or HEERF I”), Pub. L. No. 116-136, 134 Stat. 281 (March 27, 2020), the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CRRSAA or HEERF II”), Pub. L. No. 116-260 (December 27, 2020), and the American Rescue Plan Act, 2021 (ARPA or “HEERF III), Pub. L. No. 117-2 (March 11, 2021) direct institutions of higher education receiving Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds to submit reports to the U.S. Secretary of Education describing the use of the funds.

As required by CARES, CRRSAA, and ARPA, and in compliance with guidance from the U.S. Department of Education (the Department), Yeshiva University reports here its use of the Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students and Institutional Aid. The Department's guidance identified the following topics on which each institute of higher education is required to report:

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REPORTING OF HEERF I, II AND III STUDENT EMERGENCY FINANCIAL AID GRANTS:

  • Yeshiva University acknowledges that it signed and returned to the Department of Education the Recipient’s Funding Certification and Agreement. Yeshiva University ensures that it has used and intends to use no less than 50 percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students and ensures that it has used and intends to use the applicable amount of funds designated under the CRRSAA and ARPA (a) and (a)(4) programs to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students.
  • The total amount of HEERF I funds that Yeshiva University has received from the Department of Education pursuant to the Yeshiva University’s CARES Certification and Agreement for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students is $1,239,898. The total amount of HEERF II funds that Yeshiva University has received from the Department of Education pursuant to the Yeshiva University’s Certification and Agreement for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under CRRSAA is $1,239,898. Yeshiva University has received $3,261,605 of HEERF III funds from the Department under the ARPA (a) and (a)(4) program for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students.
  • As of June 30, 2022, Yeshiva University has distributed all of its $1,239,898 of HEERF I Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students, all of its $1,239,898 of HEERF II CRRSAA Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students, and all of its $3,261,605 of HEERF III ARPA Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students.
  • Yeshiva University determined that 2,835 students were eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and thus were eligible to receive HEERF I Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act, that 3,435 students were eligible to receive HEERF II Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under the CRRSAA program, and that approximately 3,600 students were eligible to receive HEERF III ARPA Emergency Financial Aid Grants.
  • As of June 30, 2022, 3,128 students have received Yeshiva University HEERF I CARES Act, HEERF II CRRSAA and HEERF III ARPA Emergency Financial Aid Grants.
  • For the HEERF I, HEERF II and HEERF III Student Emergency Financial Aid Grants, Yeshiva University developed a distribution methodology that prioritized eligible students with the greatest financial needs, while also ensuring that funds are distributed as widely as possible. In order to meet the U.S. Department of Education’s initial requirement to distribute funds only to Title IV eligible students and its focus on prioritizing distributions of the limited funds to students with the greatest financial needs, Yeshiva University determined that the grants should primarily be made to eligible students based on their documented FAFSA Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) score. EFC is an index number that colleges use to determine how much financial aid a student is eligible to receive and is calculated according to a formula established by law and the information submitted in the student’s FAFSA form. In order to give more funding to the needier students, the EFC scores were grouped into tiers, with the students in the lower EFC scores/tiers, i.e., the more financially needier students, receiving the higher amount of grant payments. Given the limited amount of funding providing by the government and to provide sufficient funding for the neediest of students, the EFC tiers were capped at the following thresholds; for undergraduates, eligible recipients’ EFCs were capped at $18,271 for HEERF I and HEERF II and $19,999 for HEERF III, and for graduate students, EFCs were capped at $2,999, $4,999 or $5,999 for HEERF I and HEERF II and $9,999 for HEERF III, depending on the graduate program. Remaining amounts of HEERF I, II, and III grants were distributed to undergraduate students with EFCs above $19,999 (in order of lowest EFCs) until all of the remaining grant funds were exhausted.
  • Yeshiva University also set aside a certain amount of the HEERF I CARES funds (the “Appeal Fund”) to provide an additional round of CARES Act grants via a separate application process to those eligible students who either did not qualify for a first round grant or whose documented financial need exceeded the amount they received in the first round. Eligible second round students (i.e., a Spring 2020 on campus, degree seeking, Title IV eligible student), including those who did not receive a first round grant due to not having filed a 2019-2020 FAFSA or the student’s EFC score was above the threshold caps, were eligible to complete the online second round Cares Act Appeal Fund application through the Office of Student Finance. These applications were processed and reviewed by a team within the Yeshiva University Office of Student Finance. If a student is still ineligible for a HEERF I,II or III grant, and the student and/or his or her family were significantly affected by issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Student Finance may still be able to help with emergency aid from other institutional resources.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REPORTING OF INSTITUTIONAL AID

September 30, 2020 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report - Updated October 9, 2020
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting under CARES Act Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion 

September 30, 2020 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report - Updated February  8, 2021
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting under CARES Act Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion 

December 31, 2020 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report - Updated January 8, 2021
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting under CARES Act Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion -12.31.20

March 31, 2021 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report – Updated July 9, 2021
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – March 31, 2021
 

June 30, 2021 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report – Updated July 9, 2021
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – June 30, 2021
 

September 30, 2021 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report - Updated October 8, 2021
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion –Updated September 30, 2021 

December 31, 2021 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report – Updated January 10, 2022
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – December 31, 2021

December 31, 2021 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report – Updated July 7, 2022Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – December 31, 2021

March 31, 2022 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report – Updated April 8, 2022
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – March 31, 2022

June 30, 2022 Institutional Aid Quarterly Report - Updated July 7, 2022
Department of Education Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting for HEERF I, II, and III (a)(1) Institutional Portion – June 30, 2022 – June 30, 2022 

  • Yeshiva University has posted the following FAQs on its website providing information to students concerning the Emergency Financial Aid Grants.

Updates in process due to recent new legislation and Department of Education guidance.  Please contact the Yeshiva Office of Student Finance with any questions.

FAQs

EMERGENCY FINANCIAL AID GRANTS TO STUDENTS UNDER THE HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (“CARES”) Act (“HEERF I”), the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (“CRRSAA or HEERF II”), and the American Rescue Plan Act, 2021 (ARPA or “HEERF III), were passed by Congress and signed into law to provide economic relief from COVID-19. One section of these laws established the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), which provided funding to colleges and universities to use for emergency financial aid grants to students for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the pandemic.  HEERF also provided money for universities to use to help with their costs incurred due to COVID-19.

  • For HEERF I grants, students who meet Title IV eligibility criteria for federal financial aid are eligible for funding. The University will use Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) data to determine your eligibility. If you are eligible to file a FAFSA but have not yet filed, please file a FAFSA at studentaid.gov.
  • Under U.S. Department of Education guidelines for the program, HEERF I funds are awarded to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students pursuing degree programs and enrolled at Yeshiva University for the Spring 2020 semester and maintain the minimum requirements of Satisfactory Academic Progress. The U.S. Department of Education does not allow these funds to be used for international students, undocumented students, non-matriculated students or students enrolled in distance-only degree programs.
  • For HEERF II funding, the U.S. Department of Education expanded eligibility to include students who are or could be eligible under Title IV and included students enrolled in exclusively distance education courses.  HEERF III expanded the definition of eligible students to include all students enrolled on or after March 13, 2020, including international students, provided the institution prioritizes those students with exceptional need. The Department of Education encourages institutions to prioritize domestic students, especially undergraduates.

These funds are meant to help students pay for any component of the student’s cost of attendance or for emergency costs that arise due to COVID-19, including expenses related to food, housing, course materials, technology, healthcare, childcare, or other expenses incurred from the disruption of campus operations.  Students determine how they may use their emergency financial grants within allowable uses.

Although not allowed under HEERF I, the Department of Education allowed institutions to use HEERF II or HEERF III financial aid grants to satisfy a student’s outstanding account balance, if the student affirmatively consents in advance.

For the HEERF I, HEERF II and HEERF III Student Emergency Financial Aid Grants, Yeshiva University developed a distribution methodology that prioritized eligible students with the greatest financial needs, while also ensuring that funds are distributed as widely as possible. To meet the U.S. Department of Education’s initial requirement to distribute funds only to Title IV eligible students and its focus on prioritizing distributions of the limited funds to students with the greatest financial needs, Yeshiva University determined that the grants should primarily be made to eligible students based on their documented FAFSA Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) score. EFC is an index number that colleges use to determine how much financial aid a student is eligible to receive and is calculated according to a formula established by law and the information submitted in the student’s FAFSA form. To give more funding to the needier students, the EFC scores were grouped into tiers, with the students in the lower EFC scores/tiers, i.e., the more financially needier students, receiving the higher amount of grant payments. Given the limited amount of funding providing by the government and to provide sufficient funding for the neediest of students, the EFC tiers were capped at the following thresholds: for undergraduates, eligible recipients’ EFCs were capped at $18,271 for HEERF I and HEERF II and $19,999 for HEERF III, and for graduate students, EFCs were capped at $2,999, $4,999 or $5,999 for HEERF I and HEERF II and $9,999 for HEERF III, depending on the graduate program. Remaining amounts of HEERF I, II, and III grants were distributed to undergraduate students with EFCs above $19,999 (in order of lowest EFCs) until all of the remaining grant funds were exhausted.

Yeshiva University also set aside a certain amount of the HEERF I CARES funds (the “Appeal Fund”) to provide an additional round of CARES Act grants via a separate application process to those eligible students who either did not qualify for a first round grant or whose documented financial need exceeded the amount they received in the first round. Eligible second round students (i.e., a Spring 2020 on campus, degree seeking, Title IV eligible student), including those who did not receive a first round grant due to not having filed a 2019-2020 FAFSA or the student’s EFC score was above the threshold caps, were eligible to complete the online second round Cares Act Appeal Fund application through the Office of Student Finance. These applications were processed and reviewed by a team within the Yeshiva University Office of Student Finance. If a student is still ineligible for a HEERF I,II or III grant, and the student and/or his or her family were significantly affected by issues associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Student Finance may still be able to help with emergency aid from other institutional resources.

No.  These funds will be sent directly to you regardless of your account standing and will not appear on your student account. 

However, although not allowed under HEERF I, the Department of Education allowed institutions to use HEERF II or HEERF III financial aid grants to satisfy a student’s outstanding account balance, if the student affirmatively consents in advance.

No. The funds are designed to be a grant and not a loan.

No.  The funding will not count towards Estimated Financial Assistance (EFA) and will not affect financial aid eligibility.

No, per the IRS, the grant will not be included in your taxable income.  Please see the IRS website for more details. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/faqs-higher-education-emergency-relief-fund-and-emergency-financial-aid-grants-under-the-cares-act

The Department of Education allocated money to Yeshiva University, along with all other colleges and universities, according to a formula that is based on the number of students at Yeshiva University and the number of Pell Grant recipients in the undergraduate population. Information about the formula is available here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerf90percentformulaallocationexplanation.pdf. Information about the allocation provided to Yeshiva University, along with those provided to other colleges and universities, is available here:  https://covid-relief-data.ed.gov/profile/entity/071036636

The Department of Education maintains answers to Frequently Asked Questions on its website. A link to general FAQs is available here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerfstudentfaqs.pdf

A list of FAQs related to all HEERF fund is available here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerffaqsoct2020rollup.pdf

 

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