Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund

HEERF Student Reporting

California State University, East Bay has signed and returned to the Department of Education, the Certification and Agreement as instructed by the United States Secretary of Education to receive funds under Section 18004(a)(1) of the Cares Act. We intend to use no less than 50% of the funds received to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to our students.

Pursuant to the institution’s Certification and Agreement for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students, CSU East Bay has received $7,308,674 from the Department of Education. As of April 17, 2020, the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed $5,491,625 to 8,961 Title IV eligible students. CSU Eastbay estimates that 12,425 students may be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and are thus eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.

The method(s) used by CSU East Bay to determine which students receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants and how much they would receive under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act is the following:

All Students who have submitted the 2019-2020 FAFSA application by the last week of April, 2020 who were eligible to receive Title IV funding under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 with the exception of those students who were enrolled only in Online Courses, per the directive of the United States Secretary of Education were automatically considered to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grant. Those who were eligible received the CARES Act Emergency funds directly to their account through the Office of Student Financial Services. This initial ‘block award,’ was distributed to students due to the disruption of campus operations that resulted in the transition to ‘online’ from ‘on ground’ learning.

There are 584 students who may have been eligible for the Emergency Financial Aid Grant under Section 18004(a)(1) who were excluded from the above block awarding. These students concurrently received institutional funding via State University Grant.

Students who are enrolled in a Title IV eligible program who have not yet submitted a FAFSA application, or of the 584 students who have received concurrent institutional funding, or students who have received an initial Emergency Financial Aid Grant under Section 18004(a)(1) must submit a CARES Act Emergency Grant Application to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grant under Section 18004(a)(1).

To be eligible for the CARES Act Emergency Grant, students must submit a current FAFSA application to verify their Title IV eligibility (Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended). Students must:

· Submit a CARES Act Emergency Grant Application and indicate their need for funding to cover expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child-care.

· Submit a current FAFSA application via studentaid.gov

· Be enrolled in a degree or certificate program

· Be meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress

· Not owe an overpayment on Title IV grants or loans.*

· Not be in default on a Title IV loan*

· Complete the Verification Process if their FAFSA is flagged for Federal Verification

· Be a U.S. citizen or national, permanent resident, or other eligible noncitizen*

· Have their Selective Service registration*

· Have valid Social Security Number*

· Not have a federal or state conviction for drug possession or sale, with certain time limitations*

*Verified by submitting a current FAFSA Application*

Spring 2020 CARES Act Emergency Grant Awarding Criteria:

Students who’s EFC are less than or equal to $5,576 (maximum Pell Eligibility Criteria) will receive $750 each, based on full time status. Students who are enrolled in less than full time will receive $375.

Students who’s EFC are more than $5,576 (maximum Pell Eligibility Criteria) will receive $500 each, based on full time status. Students who are enrolled in less than full time will receive $250.

Students are advised to visit the following link to review the guidance concerning CSU Eastbay’s Emergency Financial Aid Grants.

Updates

30 Days following our May 15 post, as of July 1, 2020, Cal State East Bay has posted an additional $317,500 in CARES Emergency Funding to 849 Title IV eligible students through the CARES Act Application. As of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed a total of $5,809,125.00 to 9,810 Title IV eligible students.
30 Days following our July 1 post, as of July 31, 2020 CSU East Bay has posted an additional $17,500 in CARES Emergency Funding to 39 Title IV eligible students through the CARES Act Application. As of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed a total of $5,826,625.00 to 9,849 Title IV eligible students.
30 Days following our July 31 post, as of August 30, 2020 CSU East Bay has posted an additional $3,000 in CARES Emergency Funding to 7 Title IV eligible students through the CARES Act Application. As of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed a total of $5,829,625 to 9,856 Title IV eligible students.
Per the revised guidance published August 31, 2020 by the Department of Education; 45 days following our August 30 reporting: As of October 10, CSU East Bay has awarded $500 to 1 Title IV eligible student through the CARES Student portion. As of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed a total of $5,830,125 to 9,857 Title IV eligible students.
45 days following our reporting on October 10; as of November 24, 2020 CSU East Bay has disbursed $985,320 of the Institutional portion of the CARES funds to 2,738 Title IV eligible students enrolled in the Fall 2020 semester. Additionally, we have disbursed $1,408,095 of the Student portion of the CARES funds to 6,182 Title IV eligible students enrolled in the Fall 2020 semester. As of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, we have distributed a total of $8,294,840 through 18,777 disbursements to a total of 12,343 Title IV eligible students who were enrolled in the Spring 2020 and Fall 2020 Term.$7,295,120 of which were from the Student portion of the CARES funds.
Cal State East Bay has disbursed its remaining Student Portion of HEERF Funds as of November 30, 2020. With the final block disbursement in the amount of $13,800 ($246 from the Institutional portion) to 44 students, as of April 17, 2020; the date of submission of the Certification and Agreement, CSU East Bay has distributed a total of $8,348,340 to 12,386 students; $7,308,674 from the Student Portion and $999,966 from the Institutional portion of the HEERF Emergency Relief Funds.

HEERF II: Coronavirus Response and Relief Appropriations Act

California State University, East Bay has received the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) as authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), Public Law 116-260, signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020. We intend to use no less than $9,308,674.00 from the Department of Education in combination of the 7,308,674 from the Student Portion and $2,000,000 from the Institutional Portion to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to our students.

As of March 31, 2021; we have distributed $6,560,685.00to 10,779 students.

Additionally, we spent $7,425 to 21 students from uncashed checks from our remaining HEERF I (CARES) funds.

The method(s) used by CSU East Bay to determine which students receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants and how much they would receive under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act is the following:

Provide the same block award amount as the first round of HEERF CARES funding ($750 for the most needy, and $375 for the less needy as measured by Pell eligibility). This option disregards the unit of enrollment and bases the distribution wholly on the students’ need as measured by the Federal Expected Family Contribution algorithm. Per the Department of Education, institutions are to distribute the emergency funds according to the student’s ‘need’ and not enrollment.

There are 17,476 students currently enrolled and 10,800 of them are verified as eligible (citizen/eligible noncitizens) to receive CRRSAA funds. 862 students are verified as not eligible, while 5,814 students may be eligible but must be verified before they can receive CRSSAA funds.

Since the population of currently eligible students is 65% of all possible eligible applicants, the total funds for block awarding is equal to or greater than 65% of allocation. (9,308,674 x 65% = 6,050,638.10, whereas the total funds to be spent with this option is $6,620,625)

The lesser of the funds, or the remaining funds after the block award ($2,688,049) will be made available to students through an application process utilizing ourscholarship application portal, where they will be required to submit verification of citizenship and indicate their ‘need’ based on Financial Aid’s Professional Judgement Criteria as defined by the Department of Education. We have posted a student guidance via this link. Those who are determined to be most needy will receive $750 and those determined to be less needy will receive $375 to maintain equitability with those who received the block funding. We will distribute funds on a first come-first served basis until the remaining funds have been exhausted.

HEERF III: American Rescue Plan

October 10:

CSU East Bay has signed and returned to the Department the Certification and Agreement and the assurance that the institution has used the applicable amount of funds designated under the CRRSAA and ARP (a)(1) and (a)(4) programs to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students.

East Bay has received a total of $7,308,674 under the CRRSAA program and $21,448,054 in the ARP (a)(1) and (a)(4) program.

As of the date of submission and as of October 10, 2021 we have spent our remaining allocation of CRRSAA funds noted on our previous reporting to another 2,438 students totaling to $7,308,674 in disbursements of the original HEERF II (CRRSAA) funding.

Additionally, we spent $7,585,261.00 under the HEERF III American Rescue Plan program to 7,591 students as of the date of submission.

As of the Fall 2021 semester, the estimated total number of students that are eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under the CRRSAA and ARP (a)(1) and programs is 9,438. This is based on the number of Financial Aid Applications that we received from enrolled students.

Between the Spring 2021, Summer 2021, and Fall 2021 semester 18,470 students have received an Emergency Grant under the CRRSAA and ARP (a)(1) programs.

Given the increase of HEERF funding through the ARP (a)(1), we used our remaining HEERF II CRRSAA funding to issue block awards to students who submitted a Financial Aid Application, prioritizing domestic students with exceptional need as defined by the Pell EFC threshold, per the guidance that we received from the Department of Education. Students with an EFC that met Pell Eligibility received $1,200 and those with an EFC that did not meet Pell Eligibility received $800. Those who were not eligible to receive the block awarding were encouraged to submit an American Rescue Plan application to be considered for $800 in HEERF funding. The American Rescue Plan Application. We will continue to distribute HEERF funds through the Fall 2021 semester and assess our plan to distribute the remaining funds during the Spring 2022 semester.

In addition to direct email outreach to our students, we have posted instructions via our website for the American Rescue Plan Application via this link. We have also partnered with a number of campus constituents who provide direct services to our students to make sure that they are equipped with information about the availability of HEERF funds and are able to guide eligible students directly to our webpage and to our office for additional counseling.

January 10:

East Bay has received a total of $7,308,674 under the CRRSAA program and $21,448,054 in the ARP (a)(1) and (a)(4) program.

As of the date of submission and as of October 10, 2021 we have spent our remaining allocation of CRRSAA funds noted on our previous reporting.

As of the date of submission and as of January 10, 2022 we spent $13,630,300 under the HEERF III American Rescue Plan program to 7,450 students as of the date of submission.

As of the Spring 2022 semester, the estimated total number of students that are eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under our remaining ARP (a)(1) and program is 10,017. This is based on the number of enrolled students as of open registration for Spring 22, directly and indirectly impacted by campus operational changes resulting from the pandemic; 7,271 of which at the time (and prior to disbursing post October 10) submitted Financial Aid Applications.

Between the Spring 2021 and the Spring 22 semester 18,870 students have received an Emergency Grant under the CRRSAA and ARP (a)(1) programs.

To determine the amount during each semester, we first take the total enrolled students. Out of this number, we identify those students who submitted a Financial Aid Application and separate them according to those who are eligible to receive the Pell Grant according to the EFC criteria. Based on our remaining allocation, we determined the amounts to provide to the student; the higher of which ($2,300 as determined from our most recent awarding period between October 10, 2021 and January 10, 2022) was designated to Pell eligible Financial Aid applicants, and the lower amount ($1,100) was designated to non-Pell eligible Financial Aid applicants.

An application was made available to eligible students who did not submit a Financial Aid Applications and did not receive the initial block awarding. Those who submit this application would get the lower designated amount.

April 10:

East Bay has received a total of $7,308,674 under the CRRSAA program and $21,448,054 in the ARP (a)(1) and (a)(4) program.

As of the date of submission and as of April 10, 2022 we spent our remaining $232,493 under the HEERF III American Rescue Plan program to 212 students.

Between the Spring 2021 and the Spring 22 semester 18,900 students have received an Emergency Grant under the CRRSAA and ARP (a)(1) programs.

To determine the amount during each semester, we first take the total enrolled students. Out of this number, we identify those students who submitted a Financial Aid Application and separate them according to those who are eligible to receive the Pell Grant according to the EFC criteria. Based on our remaining allocation, we determined the amounts to provide to the student; the higher of which ($2,300) was designated to Pell eligible Financial Aid applicants, and the lower amount ($1,100) was designated to non-Pell eligible Financial Aid applicants.

HEERF Institutional Reporting

Institutional Portion of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund information

The Funding Certification and Agreement for the Institutional Portion of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) was signed and returned on 04/23/20. Pursuant to the agreement, our campus received $7,308,673. The US Department of Education released additional support funds under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act 2021 (CRRSAA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), otherwise known as HEERF II and HEERF III. Our campus received an additional $16,934,978 on 01/17/2021 and $20,605,994 on 05/17/2021. The total Institutional portion now totals $44,849,645. Please refer to the Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reports:

Minority Serving Institution Funds (MSI) - Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund information

The Funding Certification and Agreement for the MSI Portion of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) was signed and returned on 05/05/2020. Pursuant to the agreement, our campus received $1,119,201. In addition, a supplemental award of $9,021 was acknowledged by our campus on 12/21/2020. The US Department of Education released additional support funds on 03/05/2021, for an additional $1,643,146. On 08/03/21, our campus received an additional $2,762,071. The total MSI award now totals $5,533,439. Please refer to the Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reports: