CARES Act Student Grant Report as of July 8, 2020

On April 11, 2020 Marshall University filed an application with the US Department of Education for funding under the CARES Act. As part of the application process, President Gilbert has signed and returned the certification and agreement that warrants at least 50% of the total money awarded to Marshall will be utilized to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students. At the date of the application for funding, approximately 7,900 Marshall Students were deemed eligible for the Emergency Grants.

A process for making the Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students was established by senior management and approved on April 30, 2020. Based on the estimated number of eligible students and the total available funding, a base award amount was set at $500. An online process was developed in which eligible students, as defined by the CARES Act, could apply for grants of $500, $750, or $1,000. Any grant application in excess of the base award of $500 required a detailed explanation and documentation of Eligible Expenses being claimed and the nature of the Financial Impact (i.e., expenses related to job loss, medical, moving, etc.). These higher dollar grant application are reviewed by a designated committee which approves the ultimate student award amount.

The process for awarding grants has been communicated to students using various methods including the posting of notices to the student information portal, postings on the Bursar web page, e-mail messages, letters and messages from President Gilbert on the MU web page and social media, and reporting in local media.

On April 24, 2020 Marshall received $4,501,970 from the US Department of Education to fund the portion of the CARES Act awards that is applicable to the Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students. As of July 8, 2020 a total of $3,181,250 has been distributed to 6,144 students under this program.

Program Summary Information