Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Reporting

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ARP (HEERF III)

Under the American Rescue Plan (ARP), $39.6 billion of Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) support students and institutions towards recovery efforts so that we can emerge from the pandemic even stronger. Funds in emergency aid is available to over 5,000 institutions of higher education and more than doubled in emergency relief aid available to students and institutions already authorized under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) relief legislation.

  1. The president of Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) signed and returned to the Department of Education the Certification and Agreement and assurance that TMCC will intend to use no less than 50 percent of the funds to provide emergency financial aid grants to our TMCC students.
  2. TMCC received $6,897,271 from the Department of Education for emergency financial aid grants to students.
  3. As of Jan. 10, 2022, TMCC has disbursed $6,886,020 of emergency financial aid grants to students under the ARP.
  4. The estimated total number of students at the institution that are eligible to receive emergency financial aid grants at TMCC is 22,700.
  5. The total number of students who have received an emergency financial aid grant under the ARP is 6,342 students.
  6. HEERF grants will be awarded based on a prioritized student tier list. Under the guidance of the ARP, students with exceptional needs will first be prioritized. These students include, Pell recipients, Pell-eligible students, or students eligible for federal or state need-based aid. Students who have submitted a Free Application for Federal Student Aid regardless of file completion, or meeting financial aid satisfactory academic progress, followed by all domestic students which include: citizens, permanent residents, refugees, asylum seekers, DACA recipients, other DREAMers, and similar undocumented students, international students, and finally students who are no longer enrolled but enrolled last year during the pandemic. Students will submit a HEERF III form and check a box to indicate how the emergency financial aid grant will be used and the dollar amount in financial assistance they are seeking. The maximum dollar amount that a student can request for the semester is $1,500.
  7. Emergency financial aid grants may be used by students for:
    1. Any component of their cost of attendance (tuition and fees, books and supplies, transportation, miscellaneous personal expenses, room and board).
    2. Emergency costs that arise due to the coronavirus such as tuition, food, housing, healthcare (including mental health care) or child care.
    3. Obtaining a student’s electronic consent satisfies a student’s outstanding account balance.

During the Fall 2021 Semester, HEERF recipients who initially did not request the full $1,500 grant were notified via email that additional HEERF dollars were available to them. Recipients who were interested in receiving the difference of the $1,500 grant were required to respond to the email they received as consent to disburse the difference in HEERF dollars.