Higher Education Emergency Relief Funding

Tacoma Community College
Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund
CARES II/CRSSA Grant Award

Required Reporting

1. The Federal share of unliquidated obligations that remain in your account as of 02/01/2021: $0
2. A projection of the Federal share of grant funds expected to be obligated for the remainder of the current budget period: As of June 30, 2021, the expected expenditure amount will be $1,388,729.
3. A projection of the Federal share of grant funds that will not be obligated before the end of the current budget period: Expected expenditures as of June 30, 2022, will be $4,166,187.

Definitions of the three questions:

1. Unliquidated obligations on a cash basis are obligations incurred, but not yet paid. On an accrual basis, they are obligations incurred, but for which an expenditure has not yet been recorded.
2. Estimate the amount of Federal grant funds needed, direct and indirect, for remainder of current budget period.
3. The Federal share of grant funds that will remain available at the end of current budget period.

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On April 10, 2020 TCC President Dr. Harrell signed the Certification and Agreement with the commitment to use no less than 50 percent of the funds received to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students following the criteria set forth by the Department of Education in which we are in complete alignment.

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Tacoma Community College was awarded $1,917,937.00, Monday April 27, 2020 for the Emergency Financial Aid Grant to students.

Confirmation email
Dated Monday, April 27, 2020, at 8:39am
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [G5.gov] Payment Request Notification

Name Redacted,

Requesting User ID: Redacted

Your payment submitted on 04/27/2020 in the amount of $1,917,937.00, has been received and will be deposited to Bank Account redacted on Tue Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2020. Your control number is redacted.

Should you have any questions, please contact the Helpdesk at 1-888-336-8930 (TTY: 1-866-697-2696, local 202-401-8363) or email edcaps.user@ed.gov.
Hours of operation: 8am-6pm Washington DC time Monday-Friday.

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As of Friday, May 8, 2020, Tacoma Community College has approved the distribution of $188,014 of awards. 

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We currently estimate that approximately 6,398 students at Tacoma Community are eligible for CAREs funding.  We use processed FAFSAs that we have on file in CTCLink to make this approximation.

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As of Friday May 8, 2020, Tacoma Community College has awarded approximately 211 students with many more awards pending disbursement.

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Tacoma Community College created an OnBase application form, a user friendly, digital application, that take minutes to complete, can handle a large volume of applications, is on our secured servers, and mobile friendly, which students are able to apply for CARES Grants.

The application is connected to Washington State SBCTC CTCLink database in such a way that once a student inputs their CTCLinkID, DOB, and clicks on the Required Acknowledgements, which align with the CARES Act Authorization and regulations set forth from the Department of Education, a prepopulated form appears that they then can input the amount of their grant request, financial need information, and optimal form of payment: BankMobile Deposit or Check.

After a student completes the form, there application is sent to an approval queue which our CARES program leads can review applications, confirm that students meet the eligibility requirements set forth by the Department of Education, then approval or deny based on those requirements. Once approved the application moves to our Financial Aid Department who initiate disbursements directly to students.

The college disburses two award brackets; one based on significant financial need as determined by Pell Grant, State Need eligibility, TANF, or Other. The second which is open to any student experienced COVID Related Disruption of Education as outlined by the Department of Education. Significant Need students can apply for funds up to $1000 a quarter whereas all other applicants can apply to an award up to $500. 

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Students were notified via a campus-wide email from the office of the president Friday May 1^st that the CARES grant application would open the following week so that our campus community would have an adequate advanced notice. 

 

Dear Campus Community, 

As part of the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the federal response to the COVID-19 outbreak, TCC is being awarded almost $4 million, of which half directly benefits students. We want students to get these funds as quickly and easily as possible, so we are setting up a simple online application form, which will be available next week.

About the Awards

The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. TCC recently received the funds of the student portion from the Department of Education (DOE). The DOE provides the guidelines of who is eligible for the awards, and the colleges disburse the funds based on financial need. A taskforce quickly assembled to design the application process for these funds.

Award amounts are:

• Students who qualify as high-need will receive a $1,000 award.
• Students who qualify as lower-need will receive a $500 award.
• These awards are renewable as funds allow. For example, if a student is granted a $1,000 award for spring quarter, you may re-apply for the same award during summer and fall quarters.
• Awards are grants, not loans. You are not required to pay them back.

The CARES Grant funds will be applied with priority to eligible students in spring 2020 as well as being used in coming quarters.

Eligibility

To qualify for CARES funding, students:

1. Must be currently enrolled as a student at TCC.
2. Must be eligible to fill out the FAFSA.
3. Must have been enrolled in at least one in-person class if they were enrolled in college during the winter 2020 quarter. All classes met online after March 13; however, students are not eligible if they signed up for only online classes when registering for winter 2020.

Again, students who don’t meet the qualifications above are being encouraged to apply for assistance through the Student Emergency Fund. TCC has distributed more than $23,000 to support all eligible students who have demonstrated financial need during the Covid-19 crisis.

Application Process

Applications are confidential and secure. Several TCC staff members in financial aid, financial services and student services will review the applications to determine the awards. Applicants will be notified of their award status as quickly as possible.

I know many of you have already been referring students to apply for emergency assistance. We appreciate your support! Please refer eligible students to apply for the CARES grant, and continue to refer students to our Student Emergency Fund.

We hope the CARES funding and our continued Student Emergency Fund program helps our students during this difficult time. We value all of our students, and their hard work and commitment to completing their education. In these times, it’s even more admirable that our students continue to stay the course with their studies.

Thanks to the team who quickly devised an application and an application process under the leadership of Joseph Colón. More information to come as we make a clear plan about the college payment from the CARES ACT.

We will announce when the application is live next week. Once announced, please share with all students you may come in contact with.

Stay well,
Ivan

 

A second email was sent from the Office of the President to the campus community Tuesday May 5^th when the CARES grant application went live. 

 

Dear TCC Students,

We are pleased to announce that the application for CARES Act funding is now open. Apply here.

See below message for details about this funding and its eligibility requirements. If you don’t meet the conditions above, but need financial assistance, we encourage you to apply for assistance through the Student Emergency Fund.

Additionally, the application itself, which we created using OnBase, provides students with detailed instructions, offers a digital confirmation upon completion, and our Financial Aid or Business Office contacts students with detailed next steps about the disbursement of their award which we are able to deposit using Bank Mobile or a check.

CARES Application Instructions

               “If you are a Tacoma Community College student experiencing a short-term financial need due to coronavirus (COVID-19), please fill out the application for consideration for an emergency financial aid grant. Examples of what these emergency funds can pay for include expenses such as: food, housing, course materials, tuition, fees, technology, health care, and child care. 

To apply, fill out this application form. Please be sure to include the dollar amount requested and other details that show the expense is related to COVID-19. Please read the eligibility requirements at the end of this section as not all students are eligible to receive funding. 

Students are eligible for a maximum of $1000 for significant need in support each academic quarter. You must re-apply for funding each quarter. We have a limited amount granted to us, and we appreciate students only asking for the amount needed so we can serve as many students as possible. Money received through this fund does not need to be repaid. This fund does not negate nor replace Financial Aid, and it is a one-time grant. If you have any questions, please email Joseph Colón at jcolon@cjpk.net. 

Funding is subject to the rules and eligibility requirements found in Section 18004 of the CARES Act and in subsequent notice(s) from the United States Department of Education. 

Only students who are or could be eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), may receive emergency financial aid grants. If a student has filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), then the student has demonstrated eligibility to participate in programs under Section 484 the HEA. Students who have not filed a FAFSA but who are eligible to file a FAFSA also may receive emergency financial aid grants. The criteria to participate in programs under Section 484 of the HEA include but are not limited to the following: U.S. citizenship or eligible noncitizen; a valid Social Security number; registration with Selective Service (if the student is male); and a high school diploma, GED, or completion of high school in an approved homeschool setting.”

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