The December 2020 passage of the CRRSA Act established the usage of HEERF II funding for institutions to provide students with emergency financial aid.

In order to award HEERF funds to students, the Department of Education (ED) requires all institutions to provide regular information regarding the funding, awarding and number of students receiving these emergency grants. 

• On March 15, 2021, the Department of Education made available $2,602,799 to Missouri S&T as a part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) that was to be awarded in direct emergency grants to students. Because Missouri S&T had already utilized HEERF funding provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), we had already completed the necessary certification and agreement for the funds.
• Missouri S&T defined students with exceptional need as undergraduates with extraordinary financial circumstances who met the HEERF III requirements.  These circumstances included unpaid account balances, high levels of federal loan debt, and/or other COVID-19 related financial hardships identified through other campus wellness initiatives.  Priority outreach was outlined in the following order:
• Students who were hoping to graduate in the spring 2021 semester and those who were in jeopardy of not graduating on time due to financial constraints
• Students identified as ‘high financial risk’ through our campus wellness initiatives
• Students who could not enroll in the next academic year due to financial constraints
• Students who took on large student loan debt to cover cost of attendance expenses
• All other undergraduate students
• Students were called at their primary phone number in order to discuss the availability of these new emergency student grant awards.  If students were interested in this funding, they were sent an email with a link to the application.  Calls were later followed up with an email inviting students to apply. On the application, we asked students to complete the following:
• Indicate if they would like the funding applied to their student balance and/or if they had any other COVID related expenses they needed to cover.  If students indicated they had other expenses to cover, approved funding was sent directly to the student for the amount they requested (up to the total offered).
• The application also asked students if they had borrowed federal student loans to cover their Cost of Attendance expenses that they would like to now reduce.
• The applications were reviewed and, if approved, students received grants ranging between $10 and $6,000 with awards not being greater than the student’s request. 
• If a student requested emergency grants sent directly to them for COVID related expenses, they received the amount they requested on the application (up to the maximum offer). 
• If a student requested that this funding be applied to their student account, the amount the received was equivalent to the amount of their spring 2021 balance (up to the maximum offer).
• If a student requested that their loans be reduced, their federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized loans were reduced for the spring 2021 semester, causing a balance due.  This funding was then applied, at the student’s request, to the student account.
• Students could choose multiple options to receive funding. Funding from all 3 options could not exceed the maximum offer amount and students could not complete a second application.
• As of April 22, 2021, all funding ($2,602,799) was awarded to 829 students.