CARES Act Emergency Aid Available to Students

Published: 05/27/2020

St. Charles Community College will distribute $1.3 million in federal emergency financial aid grants to qualifying students through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Students will be notified about CARES Act funding through email. The email will include a survey, which will allow students to clarify expenses as a result for the COVID-19 disruption. Those with questions can also contact the SCC Financial Aid Office - financialaid@stchas.edu. 

All SCC enrolled students who are eligible in connection with federal Title IV standards will be considered for the emergency financial aid. Awards are estimated to range from $300-750 per student. The funding is limited and will be awarded based on the level of student need.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Have a completed FAFSA for 2019-2020 school year.
• Have a declared major that is eligible for financial aid. 
• Were enrolled in Spring 2020 for at least one credit hour on or after March 13.
• Made satisfactory academic progress during Spring 2020 semester.
• Be a citizen or eligible non-citizen. 

You are not eligible to receive funds if you are one of the following:

• Dual credit, international students, DACA student and visiting student.
• Consortium agreement student where SCC is not the home school.
• Currently in default on a federal student loan.

The CARES Act appropriates about $14 billion for higher education, with about $12.5 billion to be split for emergency grants to students and money for institutional needs in light of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the law, colleges must award at least half of their total allocation to students for expenses to address educational costs pertaining to the students’ transition to online learning, including things like course materials and technology, as well as food, housing, health care and childcare.

Institutional funding allocations were set by a formula prescribed in the CARES Act that is weighted significantly by the number of full-time students who are Pell-eligible. It also takes into consideration the total population of the college and the number of students not enrolled full-time online before the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. Department of Education used the most recent data available from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Federal Student Aid (FSA) for the calculation.

In order to access the CARES Act funds, the U.S. Department of Education required a signed certification from each higher education institution affirming they would distribute the funds in accordance with applicable law. The college or university could then determine how the grant disbursement would be allocated within the guidelines set forth by the Department of Education.