By Daniela Tovar-Miranda
Staff Writer
On March 21, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law. The bill authorized $1.9 trillion in funding for COVID-19 relief, including $39.6 billion for higher education. From that amount, Dominican University was awarded a total of $8.5 million in funding.
Dominican’s grants are split into three categories with $4.1 million to use for student grants, $4.1 to use for the institution, and half a million granted for being a minority serving institution.
Dominican will give $4.1 million in funding directly to students. Half of that amount will be distributed during the Fall 2021 semester while the other half will be distributed in the Spring 2022 semester. Funds will be distributed to eligible students and will prioritize grants to those with exceptional need. This will be determined by a student’s 2021-2022 FAFSA.
Students who were not able to complete a FAFSA will still be eligible to receive funds. To apply for the funds, students needed to fill out an online application, which was sent to student’s emails, before Oct 24. After completing the application, a confirmation email will be sent to the student.
Funds will be disbursed to students on or before Nov. 10 via echeck or if the student chooses to, directly to their Fall 2021 tuition costs.
The application is only available for Dominican University students. For a student to be eligible, they must have had emergency expenses related to COVID-19, such as tuition, food, housing, technology, course materials, health and mental care, or childcare. If students have questions about their application, they can email CaresAct@dom.edu.
Students can expect to see the second half of the money being distributed in late January to early February.
According to Mark Titzer, Vice President for Finance and Administration, and Treasurer, Dominican will use the money for the institution for lost revenue.
Lost revenue includes expenses lost due to not increasing tuition costs and to account for the smaller number of students that are living on campus. The money will also go towards better air quality projects, such as in the Crown Library, the Igini Sports Forum and Power Hall.
“This is great government support that we are fortunate enough to receive,” said Titzer. “It is a lot of work to determine the amount of aid individual students will receive, but it is a good problem to have.”
