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INDIANAPOLIS— Some central Indiana colleges and universities are sitting on millions of dollars meant to help students impacted by the pandemic, a WRTV investigation found.
WRTV Investigates partnered with our Scripps network Newsy and found out why some Indiana higher education institutions are holding back money, even though most received the federal funding back in April and May.
Public and private colleges and universities throughout central Indiana are getting a slice of a $7 billion emergency student aid package approved by Congress as part of the CARES Act.
Students at Indiana University Bloomington are back on campus this week for the first time since the pandemic began.
More than 8,000 IU Bloomington students have already received a chunk of the $12 million in emergency federal aid that IU Bloomington received.
“Our goal was to get the money out as soon as possible and we did that," said Jim Kennedy, Associate Vice President for University Student Services and Systems at Indiana University. “We realized right away that we had students with financial issues. Timing is everything and students really needed to get this.”
The CARES Act money from the federal government is meant to quickly help college students get laptops, internet, and housing.
Students can also use the emergency financial aid on things like healthcare and childcare.
"A lot of students were going online and needed other technologies or finding living expenses if they had to go home,” Kennedy said. “That’s why we wanted to get it as fast as we could especially before the end of the semester so if they had additional expenses, the money could be used for that."
The grants to students range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Ivy Tech student Valarie Famuyiwa said she used the money to help her get a new computer to do online course work.
“It was a major help for me,” Famuyiwa said, who received $4,000 in emergency student aid through the CARES Act. “I wasn’t expecting to get that much.”
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Universities and colleges are required to publicly report how they’ve spent CARES Act grant money for students—it’s part of the terms and conditions they signed back in April.
WRTV Investigates analyzed those disclosure forms and found many schools like Indiana University, Butler University, Ball State University, and DePauw University, have distributed nearly every last dollar to students.
Ivy Tech still has $5 million left to distribute to its students of the $16.5 million it received from the federal government.
Franklin College has $325,637 left to disperse to its students of the $535,937 in emergency financial aid it obtained from the CARES Act.
Purdue University still has nearly $10 million left to distribute to students in need— that’s 88% of the $11.3 million it received from the federal government in emergency financial aid.
WRTV's Scripps news-gathering partners at Newsy found the same thing happening at higher education institutions throughout the country.
“It makes you wonder, are there people who really would have been helped that didn’t get the necessary support from their schools?” Ben Miller of the Center for American Progress told Newsy.
So, what’s the hold-up? Some schools are using an application process for students, which can delay things.
The U.S. Department of Education has given universities a year to award all the funds.
Several schools told WRTV Investigates its saving some of the grant money for students who might need it in the future.
"They're trying to do this very, very careful because they're not sure how this situation is going to develop,” said William Winecoff, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University. “We've already seen in the past few days a number of universities that tried to re-open are shutting down already. I think we are going to see a lot of this start and stop."
Winecoff said the CARES Act money is key because many higher education institutions are facing budget shortfalls and declining enrollments, especially as state governments have cut funding.
"It’s not surprising there is a range of approaches,” Winecoff said. “Universities are really trying to stretch and meet these needs as best as they can."
Both Purdue University and Franklin College declined to provide WRTV with someone to speak on-camera about the emergency aid.
Both institutions provided statements that indicated they plan to disperse the funds soon.
“Rather than distributing block grants, we purposefully used an application process to start, to ensure the funds were used to cover expenses that students incurred from the disruption of campus operations in the spring – as directed by guidance from the US Dept of Ed,” read Purdue’s statement to WRTV. “We also set aside some money to handle expected student needs this summer/fall. We do plan to distribute the remainder soon. The plan for that distribution is under development.”
Purdue’s fall application process began on Aug. 24 and the awarding of the fall funds is starting this week.
A spokesperson for Franklin College told WRTV they wanted to ensure that funding was available to their most financially challenged students.
“The College also intentionally developed a policy that would hold some funds in reserve to serve the needs of students in the current academic year, anticipating that the COVID-19 crisis would still be in progress…and perhaps even worse,” read the statement from Franklin College. “Overall, our disbursements have gone as we had hoped and planned, and given the continuing COVID-19 crisis, we are fully confident that all funds will be disbursed within the allowed timeframe…and because we have crossed over into another academic year, we are better positioned to address the resulting student needs that will certainly occur.”
Ivy Tech is taking a similar approach with the $5 million it has left to distribute.
“The second half of the funds have been readily available for students to apply for and still are,” Jeff Fanter, an Ivy Tech spokesperson, said in an email to WRTV. “We were one of the first to distribute half of our allocation through a formula and at that time we did not know how the disruption to campus operations would continue or how long it would exist. In fact, our disruption to campus operations still exists for students in the Fall even though we are opening and we could have campus closures that affect them, so we've been thoughtful about how we distribute the funds in such a fluid situation.”
Ivy Tech students can apply here.
You can find out how much your college or university has received and how much it has distributed by doing an internet search for the school’s name plus “CARES Act 18004 disclosure.”
IVY TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE FULL STATEMENT:
"The impact of the pandemic to campus operations is ongoing, and the College wanted to ensure we could address ongoing student needs. The second half of the funds have been readily available for students to apply for and still are. We were one of the first to distribute half of our allocation through a formula and at that time we did not know how the disruption to campus operations would continue or how long it would exist. In fact, our disruption to campus operations still exists for students in the Fall even though we are opening and we could have campus closures that affect them, so we've been thoughtful about how we distribute the funds in such a fluid situation. The College chose to distribute funds using two methods to ensure we could reach the maximum number of students, while addressing varying impacts to individuals. We initially distributed funds through a formula using student FAFSA information and basing awards on students' unmet need. By focusing another portion of the aid through an application process, as most colleges and universities did, we could ensure that we could assist students in Spring, Summer and Fall semesters. Students have all been able to apply for CARES funding through the entire period through the IvyCARES application, and if the expense qualifies we award the funds."
FRANKLIN COLLEGE FULL STATEMENT:
- "The process we developed/utilized is found at https://franklincollege.edu/coronavirus/cares-emergency-relief-grants/, with our focus on reaching out to ALL ELIGIBLE students through a process that was user friendly. We also intentionally wanted to ensure that funding was available to our most financially challenged students."
- Because disbursement of the funds can take place up to one year from receipt, the College also intentionally developed a policy that would hold some funds in reserve to serve the needs of students in the current academic year, anticipating that the COVID-19 crisis would still be in progress…and perhaps even worse."
- Overall, our disbursements have gone as we had hoped and planned, and given the continuing COVID-19 crisis, we are fully confident that all funds will be disbursed within the allowed timeframe…and because we have crossed over into another academic year, we are better positioned to address the resulting student needs that will certainly occur."
PURDUE UNIVERSITY FULL STATEMENT:
"Rather than distributing block grants, we purposefully used an application process to start, to ensure the funds were used to cover expenses that students incurred from the disruption of campus operations in the spring – as directed by guidance from the US Dept of Ed. We also set aside some money to handle expected student needs this summer/fall. The fall application will be available beginning August 24 and the awarding of the fall funds will begin then. We do plan to distribute the remainder soon. The plan for that distribution is under development."
