CARES Act Funding
Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress, Concordia will be receiving limited Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) to be distributed to any student who has been impacted financially with unforeseen expenses due to COVID.
The amount provided to the university is limited and will be distributed to students based on documentation and until all funds have been depleted. Students with eligible expenses may submit more than one application if warranted, however, it is important to note that reimbursements will be CUMULATIVE up to the maximum reimbursement amount of $2000. For example, a student who submitted an application back in Spring 2020 for unexpected expenses as a result of the transition from on campus learning to off campus learning, AND submits a new application for a computer as needed for hybrid learning environments for Fall 2020, will not be reimbursed more than $2000, total.
To apply for these funds, please fill out the application. The application will require confirmation by email sent to your cune.org email address. In order to apply, you will need your Student JNumber, your cune.org email address and documented expenses, such as receipts. Eligible expenses include:
- Food/housing expenses resulting from the move off-campus when campus housing was closed or due to quarantine.
- Technology-related expenses due to courses being offered solely online or hybrid courses.
- Transportation expenses resulting of unexpectedly leaving campus, having to return from a program that was canceled (choir tour, study trips) or returning home due to quarantine.
- Child care
- Course materials
- Health care expenses, including expenses related to COVID testing
- Other unique circumstances related to the transition
Concordia University, Nebraska signed and submitted the Certification and Agreement Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, in the amount of $1,017,489 on April 26, 2020. At Concordia, we have dedicated $508,745 of the funds to provide emergency financial aid grants directly to eligible students. The remaining funds were used to provide room and board credits to students. Covering expenditures from April 26, 2020 through September 30, 2020. Approximately 1,100 enrolled students at the time of disruption, of which 976 filed a 19/20 FAFSA, are eligible to apply for the emergency grants. To be eligible for the grant the student must be Title IV eligible. The initial reimbursement amount is $400 per student for students enrolled after March 13, 2020. Pending leftover funds, eligible students with larger expenses may be reimbursed beyond $400 with a maximum reimbursement of $2,000. The application is currently available for students to complete. There are 492 students receiving funds as of December 31, 2020 with a total of $466,528 of the funds distributed.
Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds Questions and Answers
Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress, Concordia will be receiving limited Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) to be distributed to any student who has been impacted financially with unforeseen expenses due to the transition of campus operations from face-to face learning to fully online learning. The funds, available to students with a FAFSA on file, may be available to cover expenses related to food and housing changes, unexpected travel from moving home, additional health care needs or other circumstances related to this change.
If your household income has decreased due to COVID-19, we can assist you with a review of your FAFSA filing to coordinate additional financial assistance to be used toward tuition. This assistance, known as professional judgment, allows for adjustments that could translate to additional federal need-based aid. For details on this process and to get started, visit cune.edu/pj.
In order to be eligible to apply, it must be determined you are also eligible to receive Title IV funds through the Department of Education. Therefore, you will be asked to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). If you have already filed a 2019-2020 and/or 2020-2021 FAFSA, you only need to complete the application for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds. If you have NOT completed a FAFSA, you will need to do so in order for us to determine your eligibility to apply for the HEERF.
If you have been and continue to be exclusively an online student, you are not eligible to apply for funds per the CARES ACT regulations. However, if you are a hybrid graduate student, taking a combination of face-to-face courses and online courses, then yes-you may apply. Additionally, undergraduate students who began the semester face-to-face on campus, even though we’ve transitioned to online learning, you also are eligible to apply.
Unfortunately, international students and DACA students are not eligible to receive funds under the CARES ACT. These funds are being designated to students in higher education that are eligible to receive Title IV funds through the Department of Education. Therefore, if you are not eligible to file a FAFSA, you are not eligible to receive funds under the CARES ACT.
Yes, there is a possibility the funds received under the CARES ACT, may be taxable. We are awaiting further information to be disclosed, but in in the meantime, it’s worth being prepared for it to be a taxable fund.
You will be advised to set up direct deposit so that we may issue it directly into your bank account. You may set up direct deposit now by logging into the portal (http://portal.cune.edu), selecting the Academic Life tab (if undergraduate) OR the Graduate & Adult Education tab (if a hybrid graduate student), locating Banner Self-Service, and selecting STUDENT then EDIT DIRECT DEPOSIT ALLOCATION. You will be prompted to add and save your banking information.
Yes-you will still receive your disbursement regardless of whether you owe Concordia. With that being said, your balance does need resolved as soon as possible to avoid further hold ups regarding registration and/or receiving transcripts. Please contact the Student Accounts Office at studentaccounts@cune.edu or 402-643-7300 as soon as possible to work through possible solutions.
You are encouraged to submit receipts/documentation for all of your unforeseen expenses. With funding being limited, we will do an initial evaluation of submissions received during the application period, allotting $400 as the maximum reimbursement in order to allow all students the opportunity to submit expenses. If following the initial evaluation there is still funding available, we will re-evaluate expenses submitted and address those over the $400 maximum on a case-by-case basis.
We still want you to apply and submit as much detailed information as you can. We encourage you to take the time to attempt recovering any receipts/documentation you can to provide an accurate account of expenses. Your application will still be reviewed without receipts, but there is no guarantee that your expenses will fully be reimbursed. If for example, you incurred an expense for gas, but did not keep receipts, calculate your mileage using a maps app and multiply it by the IRS 2020 standard mileage rate of 57.5 cents per mile. Include a copy of your mileage map, along with the calculation to serve as documentation.