To help the nation respond to the pandemic, Congress injected about $4.6 trillion into the U.S. economy through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and subsequent legislation. Of this amount, over $75 billion was directed to institutions of higher education through the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund,…

In the final days of 2020, Congress gave the country a long-overdue Christmas present with the passage of a new COVID-19 relief bill. Known as the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), the bill is a whopping 5,500 pages long. But for higher education institutions, the real action starts on Page 1872 with the…

Many community college students are hungry, and this problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The amply available Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds, created by the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, have helped institutions address campus hunger during and after the pandemic. The study's guiding research…

As part of the Biden-Harris Administration's comprehensive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to resources under Executive Order 14000 and the COVID-19 Handbook: Volume 3, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) is committed to efficiently and effectively administering Federal emergency and relief funds and…

In March 2020, COVID-19 sent shocking changes through California's public higher educational institutions' means and methods of operating, which resulted in sharp drops in revenue along with sudden costs associated with on-campus COVID-19 safety measures and with moving courses and student services online. To make matters worse, state funding also…

In order to assist higher education institutions and their students during the pandemic, the federal government established the Higher Education Emergency Relief (HEER) Fund, which directed over $75 billion to institutions of higher education--including nearly $25 billion to community colleges--over a three-year period. The U.S. Department of…

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. It authorized more than $2 trillion to battle Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its economic effects. The CARES Act provides $31 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID-19, domestically or…

Congress provided more than $76 billion in total to eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs or institutions) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), including $40 billion through the American Rescue Plan. This report details HEERF spending in calendar year…

This statutory report presents the activities and accomplishments of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG) from April 1, 2024, through September 30, 2024. The audits, investigations, and related work highlighted in the report are products of OIG's mission to identify and stop fraud, waste, and abuse; and promote…

To address the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress authorized the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF I) in March 2020 with over $6 billion allocated for emergency financial aid. In this paper, we utilize the administrative burden framework to analyze HEERF I implementation for a stratified random sample of…

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) play a prominent role in the nation's higher education system. For example, 574 HSIs enrolled over 2 million Hispanic students in the 2021-2022 school year, representing 60 percent of all Hispanic students in college. Like most colleges, HSIs must continue to invest in their facilities and digital…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education in California, forcing students and institutions to adapt rapidly to the public health and economic crisis. Institutions' revenue streams were predicted to decline just as new and increased costs for health, safety, and online education burdened budgets. The federal government provided over $10…

Test-optional admissions policies have been steadily, though slowly, expanding throughout higher education institutions for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, sparked a rapid expansion of institutions adopting test-optional policy. Using a diffusion of innovations framework, this study assesses the institutional characteristics that shaped…

The Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA; P.L. 89-329, as amended) authorizes the operation of three federal student loan programs: (1) the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) program; (2) the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program; and (3) the Federal Perkins Loan program. While new loans are currently authorized to be made only…

Through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of March 2020, Congress created the first-ever federal emergency aid program for higher education, the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). In the 2020-21 academic year, MDRC partnered with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators…