LAUREN GILGER: Stimulus funds from the $2 trillion CARES Act were distributed to colleges and universities around the country to help offset the financial crunch for both the institutions and the students enrolled. More than $12.5 billion will be distributed to both public and for-profit colleges and universities.
STEVE GOLDSTEIN: A key provision of the allocation is that at least half of the funds directed to students will help recover the costs of lost tuition, books, room and board and emergency expenses like child care or moving costs.
GILGER: Two Arizona schools are receiving the largest allotments being distributed. Arizona State University is receiving $63.5 million, and Grand Canyon University is receiving $22.4 million — the largest grants for a public and for-profit school, respectively.
GOLDSTEIN: To parse out how the two largest grants landed in our state, we spoke with Dr. Robert Kelchen, associate professor of higher education at Seton Hall University. In the simplest terms, he explained how the federal government is distributing this money.
ROBERT KELCHEN: It's based on a combination of overall enrollment and the number of students who are receiving the Pell Grant, which is the federal grant for students from low- to middle-income families.
GILGER: As for why these two schools happen to be in Arizona, Kelchen says it comes down to student demographics.
KELCHEN: Race, ethnicity is correlated with family income. So because there are a large number of underrepresented minority students, there are also a large number of students getting Pell Grants, and that gets the college additional money.
GOLDSTEIN: There have been questions about whether DACA students will be eligible for CARES Act funds. Kelchen indicates they could receive aid and that it could be a result of a simple technicality.
KELCHEN: There might be a legal challenge, but as of right now, it looks like DACA students could receive the money because the act was written broadly, that the money can go to any student. DACA students can't get Pell Grants. They can't count toward that part of the formula. But it seems like the money can be used on dacko students if the college wants that.
GILGER: In addition to aiding students, portions of the CARES Act will help the universities and colleges address the revenue shortfalls being addressed by shutting down campus operations.
KELCHEN: Colleges will have less coming in in terms of tuition revenue for the next several months. They also spent a lot of money trying to get classes online. It takes resources with information technology, people to help faculty and staff get courses, even additional academic advising. All of those things cost money. At the same time, there's less money coming in. So this fund of money helps to fill that gap, but it's by no means filling it for most colleges.
GOLDSTEIN: And Kelchen explains how this gap could result in increased unemployment numbers in Arizona.
KELCHEN: There's a provision in the act that says colleges are supposed to minimize layoffs, but there will still be hiring freezes, there will still be furloughs, there will still be layoffs, just because the financial hit is so large. And this is especially true for colleges that have a lot of students on campus because they had to give out refunds for room and board, and that can run in the millions of dollars.
GILGER: Nearly $200 million in all will be allocated for Arizona colleges and universities to aid staff and students.
