International Students in USA
Colleges and universities pressed U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to get the $14 billion earmarked for higher education in last week’s $2 trillion CARES Act stimulus package to institutions quickly.
“This crisis is causing massive disruption to students, institutional operations and institutional finances. On some campuses, it is creating an existential threat, potentially resulting in closures,” Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, said in the letter that was signed by 40 groups, including those representing four-year institutions and community colleges.
“I fear this funding will be for naught for many institutions unless the department can act very quickly to make these funds available,” Mitchell wrote.
Request for urgent funding
Colleges and universities had asked for $50 billion in the bill to help pay for the financial toll of the pandemic on institutions, including potentially refunding room and board to students.
“We must stress that the assistance included for students and institutions in the CARES Act is far below what is essential to respond to the financial disasters confronting both,” Mitchell said. “It’s critical for the department to provide campuses with as much flexibility as possible for distributing these funds on campus, both for emergency grants to students and to help cover institutional refunds, expenses and other lost revenues.”
Mitchell also asked the department to clarify how the money can be used. “For example, it will be very helpful to know if the funding for emergency grants to students can be used to reimburse institutions for students’ expenses, such as housing, food, transportation, equipment and the like, that already have been or may soon be refunded or incurred on behalf of students,” the letter said.
Dispersing the funds is a priority
Angela Morabito, a department spokeswoman, said dispersing the funds is a priority, ”We understand the necessity to move quickly to get CARES Act relief funds to students and educators. An internal group of experts is working to create the most efficient process for this, and we look forward to sharing more details with the field in the coming days.”
- Kery Murakami