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 the transition of campus operations from face-to face learning to fully online learning.
As a Concordia Nebraska student, you may be eligible for funds provided to the university from the federal government. Eligible students include:
- Any student who qualifies for Title IV funding
- Any student who has a FAFSA on file with the institution
The amount provided to the university is limited and will be distributed based on documented need. While it's not possible to guarantee, based on the amount of funds provided, most students could receive up to $400.
To apply for these funds, please fill out the application by May 22, 2020. The application will require confirmation by email sent to your cune.org email address. Applications submitted after May 22 may not be processed. 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
- Technology-related expenses due to courses being offered solely online
- Transportation expenses resulting of unexpectedly leaving campus or having to return from a program that was cancelled (choir tour, study trips)
- Child care
- Course materials
- Health care
- Other unique circumstances related to the transition
During the week of May 25, we will review all requests and verify documentation matches federal government guidelines. If you request a qualified and documented expense, you are ensured to receive some level of funding. While our goal is to match the amount of funding you request, the total amount of funds Concordia is able to distribute is limited.
Beginning the week of June 2, we will be distributing these funds directly to the bank accounts we have on file for each qualified applicant.
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.
In order to ensure your application is considered, and to be able to expedite disbursing funds to students as soon as possible, the application deadline is May 22.
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.
Under the guidelines of the CARES ACT, the intention is to put it in the hands of students as soon as possible. With that, following the application period of May, we will be disbursing the funds to your bank account beginning the first part of June.
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 you incurred during your Spring 2020 semester as a result of the disruption of face-to-face/on-campus learning. 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.
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 will be used to provide room and board credits to students, the investment of resources to assist in delivering online courses and ensuring safety for our students who were traveling during the pandemic outbreak. Approximately 1,100 enrolled students at the time of disruption 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. Pending leftover funds, eligible students with larger expenses may be reimbursed beyond $400. The application process was made available at cune.edu/cares on May 1, 2020 and will close on May 22, 2020. At that time submitted student applications will be reviewed and distribution payments will begin in early June.