Certification and Agreement:
As a recipient of HEERF monies under the CARES Act, the University automatically was allocated additional monies under the HEERF supplemental appropriations.
Amount of Funds:
CRRSAA: The University at Albany was allocated an additional $8,031,991 for student emergency grants with the remainder of the total CRRSAA HEERF allocation of $25,189,865 provided as institutional aid.
Amount Distributed:
Please consult the distribution reports on the HEERF page.
Additional Federal Disclosure Information for CARES HEERF student emergency grants
Estimated Total Number of Eligible Students:
Approximately 13,000 students were eligible for consideration for a HEERF II grant under U.S. Department of Education definition of eligibility. Of these, 6,368 students were determined to have met the priority of exceptional need standard of the U.S. Department of Education as determined by the State University of New York (SUNY) methodology.
Total Number of Students Who Have Received Assistance:
As of June 30, 2021, the University at Albany awarded HEERF II student assistance to 6,352 students.
Methodology:
The University followed the awarding methodology provided by SUNY administration. SUNY permitted campuses to use a small amount (3% or less) of the student grant funds to distribute on a discretionary basis to students with exceptional need and established a formula for the calculation of base grants to be distributed to students whose EFC showed them to fulfill the federal requirement of distributing funds to students with exceptional need.
Base grants:
The chart below provides the specific information for the base grant dollar amounts distributed by the University based on EFC range as well as fulltime (FT) and part-time (PT) status.
| Student Status | Base Grant | EFC Range 0 - 1,500 |
EFC Range 1,501 - 2,900 |
EFC Range 2,901 - 4,300 |
EFC Range 4,301 - 5,711 |
| Fulltime | $675.00 | $1,350.00 | $1,181.25 | $1,012.50 | $843.75 |
| Part-time | $337.50 | $1,012.50 | $843.75 | $675.00 | $506.25 |
Discretionary funds grants:
The University distributed the remaining percentage of student aid funds, totaling $252,894 via the exiting Student Emergency Fund. Students who express COVID related financial impact/hardships either to Financial Aid counselors or other professionals were directed to submit a Student Emergency Fund application. Students can also directly apply to the Student Emergency Fund as the application is freely available online.
The application requires applicants to describe their specific financial hardship. Awarding determinations were made based on a summation of factors including a review of FAFSA data, and access to other resources, in addition to the student's narrative and documentation of expenses.
Funding was awarded up to a $2000 cap and disbursed and refunded directly to the student by the Student Accounts office.
Instructions, Directions and Guidance for Students:
Dear _________,
In response to the pandemic, the federal government has made funds available via the CRRSAA Act (HEERF II) to award emergency grants to students for expenses related to any component of a student's cost of attendance or for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus. Eligible expenses include tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care), or childcare. The federal government permits use of these funds to pay off an outstanding balance you may have with the University.
The University has deemed you eligible to receive an emergency grant in the amount of $______. This is not a loan and will not need to be paid back and will not affect your financial aid award amounts for the academic year 2020-21. You will see the assistance on your financial aid package by visiting MyUAlbany. Please note, no action is needed by you. HEERF II funds are automatically disbursed and refunded to your E-Refund account (see note below).
Please review the complete HEERF II guidelines for student emergency funds. Students must understand it is their responsibility to notify Student Financial Services should they not have incurred emergency expenses that meet or exceed the amount of their emergency grant or elect to decline the funds.
Sincerely,
Student Financial Services
Note: Students who do not have an E-Refund account are encouraged to create one on E-Pay. You will need your banking routing and account numbers to set up your E-Refund account. An E-Refund will significantly speed up processing of the HEERF II emergency funds. Without an E-Refund account, a check will be mailed to your permanent address. It may take several weeks for you to receive a check.