HEERF III: HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND – STUDENT AID

Overview

$42.2M has been allocated to the University of Arizona for student emergency relief through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The University has signed and returned the Certification and Agreement form necessary to access the funds, and intends to use 100% of these funds to provide emergency financial aid grants to students. Funds may be used for any component of students’ cost of attendance for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus, such as tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care), or child care. The university must prioritize grants to students with exceptional need and will select recipients from approximately 54,500 eligible University of Arizona students. Funds must be spent within one calendar year of certification.

Process

The university is awarding the emergency relief as follows:

a) approximately $21.1M in direct grants to students and b) approximately $21.1M via an application process embedded in the current Student Emergency Fund process. All payments will be refunded directly to students and will not pay toward any balance they may currently owe in their student account, unless the student has provided affirmative consent to apply the funds to their student account. All students are encouraged to log in to UAccess and either set up direct deposit or update their mailing address.

Through March 31, 2022, a total of $42,249,127 has been disbursed to 28,762 eligible undergraduate, graduate, and professional students based on the following criteria:

Direct grants were awarded to students based on the amount of their estimated 2020-2021 or 2021-2022 Cost of Attendance that is covered by Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and other forms of gift aid (not including loans or Federal Work-Study awards). Awards of up to $2,000 were made, with larger amounts for those with the most uncovered expenses, or “unmet need.”
The Student Emergency Fund application can be completed by any University of Arizona student. Students who were not initially awarded with a direct grant, or need additional funds, will be able to apply for funding. This application process allows the review team to determine if emergency relief may be awarded from the HEERF III funds or the University of Arizona Foundation funds.

This is the final report that covers all remaining HEERF III fund expenditures for Section 18004(a)(1) Student Portion funds.