CARES ACT FINAL REPORT
The CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) provides funding to institutions for emergency financial aid grants to students whose lives have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Below is Coastal Carolina University’s Final report as of Oct. 15, 2020.
- Access the initial 30-Day report »
- Access the 45 Day Report »
- Access the Institutional Budget and Expenditure Final Report »
With regard to the CARES Act Section 18004(a) (1), Coastal Carolina University (CCU) acknowledges and assures that:
- CCU was allocated $10,054,347 under the CARES Act for emergency relief of students and the institution.
- A signed Certification and Agreement was returned to the Department of Education on April 13, 2020 with the intention of using $5,027,174 of funds to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.
- A signed Certification and Agreement was returned to the Department of Education on April 21, 2020 with the intention of using $5,027,173 to cover institutional costs related to the disruption of campus operations.
- $5,027,174 in Emergency Financial Aid Grants have been provided to students as of June 29, 2020. At this time, all funds provided for emergency financial aid grants to students have been exhausted.
- The estimated number of students eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and thus eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act is 6,868.
- As of June 29, 2020, 6,868 students have received funding.
- Strategic members of CCU’s staff developed the methods used to determine which students will receive the emergency funding, as well as how much they receive.
Method:
- Qualified students that were enrolled as of the last day of classes for Spring 2020 and incurred expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19 were identified and awarded emergency grants on May 7th, 2020. 6,751 eligible students were awarded at this time.
- $497,274 was reserved for eligible students to apply for additional funding based on higher incurred expenses during two application cycles (May 8th, 2020 – May 29th, 2020 and June 15th, 2020 - June 19th, 2020). The applications were reviewed by the University’s Benevolence fund committee and eligible students were awarded based on need, exhausting all CARES Act HEERF funding.
- Students who are not eligible for Title IV funding were not eligible for funding from the CARES Act.
- Students who were enrolled only in online classes prior to March 13 were not eligible for funding.
- Students with the greatest documented need using the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will be prioritized. Individual disbursement amounts varied by student dependent on levels of financial need, as defined by Title IV regulations.
- CCU Financial Aid & Scholarships verified eligibility in accordance with the CARES Act.
Amount: Initial block grant awards to each student were determined by the chart below. Additional funding from the approved applications varied by student and was determined by the benevolence committee based on expressed need due to COVID-related expenses.
Student Category |
Expected Family Contribution |
Amount Per Student |
Undergraduate Pell Eligible |
$0 to $5,576 |
$900.00 |
Undergraduate Not Pell Eligible |
Above $5,576 |
$500.00 |
Graduate Students |
N/A |
$500.00 |
8. CCU Financial Aid and Scholarships posted instructions and guidance for students regarding CARES Act funding on its website. Eligible students were emailed in May 2020 regarding eligibility status, encouragement to setup direct deposit for electronic receipt of these funds, and the application process to request additional funding. Students also received communication in June 2020 regarding application decisions and award disbursements.