The University of Oregon is set to receive an estimated $16 million in aid from the federal government. There’s only two problems: It isn’t enough money, and the university doesn’t know when it’s getting here.
On March 27, President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act into law. The $2 trillion emergency economic relief package set aside $30 billion for an “Education Stabilization Fund,” and $14 billion of that was dedicated to colleges and universities.
However, the money was a fraction of what universities asked for.
On March 19, the Oregon Council of Presidents sent a letter, which UO President Michael Schill signed, to the Oregon delegation requesting emergency funding for higher education. The American Council of Education, which represents college presidents, also asked Congress for $50 billion in relief, according to the Washington Post.
“That sounds like a lot of money out of the $2 trillion bill, but it would not have been a significant portion of the bill,” said Betsy Boyd, UO associate vice president for federal affairs.
The American Council on Education and Association of Public and Land Grant Universities’ provided preliminary estimates for each university’s funding, suggesting that the UO would get about $16 million, based on the number of Pell scholarships students and non-Pell students.
If the UO does receive that $16 million, the bill specifies that half of it must provide emergency financial aid grants to students for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to the coronavirus. This means money for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care and child care.
The bill also halts some federal student loans through Sept. 30 and allows schools to issue work-study payments to students who are unable to work due to workplace closures. It also excludes this term from counting toward financial aid time limits.
However, the university doesn’t yet know when it will receive the money.
“It isn’t surprising when the federal government moves so quickly, when Congress passes a bill, spending $2 trillion in three weeks, that there end up being questions about what was it that Congress meant?” Boyd said. “There were monies that the university has already returned to students that create holes in budgets. Are we able to recoup those costs? Or are these new costs? We don’t know the answer to that.”
Right now the university has a general plan, aimed at “addressing the costs and revenue shortfalls facing the institution but also the emergency assistance needed to students,” Boyd said.
When the time comes, it will be the university’s policy group that makes the decisions about where the $16 million goes, according to Boyd. This means the president, provost and vice presidents, among others.
A fourth relief bill may come later this month, and according to Boyd, there are negotiations to get funding for higher education closer to $50 billion.
She said the university is looking for more regulatory flexibility, direct technology assistance, access to capital, meaning zero interest loans, and sponsored research funds.
As of now, Boyd hopes to hear about the current bill’s funding soon.
“So hopefully, later this week, next week, we’ll have some guidance from the Department of Education about how they expect to make the funds available and what the timeline will be,” she said.
