CARES Act Grants: Emergency Financial Aid Grant to Students
The CARES Act provides the U.S. Department of Education (“DOE”) with funds for MTI/DTC to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) including Eligible Expenses under a student’s cost of attendance such as:
- Food
- Housing
- Course materials (to attend school)
- Technology (related to attending online classes)
- Health care
- Childcare
The Emergency Financial Aid Grant is an emergency grant payment to eligible students and is not required to be repaid. Students may be eligible for this need-based grant if they are currently enrolled and actively participating in classes.
Eligible MTI/DTC students are notified via email and U.S. mail regarding their eligibility. Each student is directed to their student portal where they certify that they have incurred qualifying expenses and directions are provided on how to update their contact information. Once the student certifies and is approved, MTI/DTC begins the process of releasing funds and a one-time Emergency Financial Aid Grant check is mailed to them.
MTI/DTC has aligned grant amounts, to the extent possible, with the federal Pell Grant formula that uses the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Below is a summary:
| Expected Family Contribution (EFC) | Emergency Financial Aid Grant Amount |
| $0 | $1,978 |
| $1-$9,999 | $1,582 |
| $10,000-$24,999 | $791 |
| $25,000-$49,999 | $396 |
| $50,000 and up | $198 |
Students who did not apply for federal financial aid but may have been eligible to receive it will be considered for a $198 grant.
Allocation of Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students
MTI/DTC has received a total grant amount of $3,582,256.00 from the Department for Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students. MTI/DTC has signed and returned the certification and agreement form, and has used, or intends to use, no less than 50 percent of the funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students.
Approximately 2,008 total students at MTI/DTC are eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and thus eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act.
As of September 3rd, MTI/DTC has distributed $3,362,631 to 1,928 students. We will continue to distribute the remaining funds as students certify and are approved.
More Information
Students who have any other unmet needs related to COVID-19 student expenses that this grant will not cover, please reach out to your Student Success Specialist, and let them know of this need. They may be able to find you additional resources.
For additional questions about the Emergency Financial Aid Grant please contact MTI/DTC at (217) 527-8318.
Quarterly Budget and Expenditure Reporting under CARES Act Sections 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion, 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3), if applicable
Institution Name: Midwest Technical Institute, Inc.
Date of Report: _10/30/2020
Covering Quarter Ending: 09/30/2020
Total Amount of Funds Awarded: Section (a)(1) Institutional Portion: $ 3,582,256 Section (a)(2): $ 0
Section (a)(3): _$ 0
Final Report? ☐
Category | Amount in (a)(1) institutional dollars | Amount in (a)(2) dollars, if applicable | Amount in (a)(3) dollars, if applicable | Explanatory Notes |
Providing additional emergency financial aid grants to students.1 | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Providing reimbursements for tuition, housing, room and board, or other fee refunds. | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Providing tuition discounts. | $ 0 | $ 0 | ||
Covering the cost of providing additional technology hardware to students, such as laptops or tablets, or covering the added cost of technology fees. | $ 105,287 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Providing or subsidizing the costs of high‐speed internet to students or faculty to transition to an online environment. | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Subsidizing off‐campus housing costs due to dormitory closures or decisions to limit housing to one student per room; subsidizing housing costs to reduce housing density; paying for hotels or other off‐campus housing for students who need to be isolated; paying travel expenses for students who need to leave campus early due to coronavirus infections or campus interruptions. | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Subsidizing food service to reduce density in eating facilities, to provide pre‐packaged meals, or to add hours to food service operations to accommodate social distancing. | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Costs related to operating additional class sections to enable social distancing, such as those for hiring more instructors and increasing campus hours of operations. | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Campus safety and operations.2 | $ 147,830 | $ 0 | $ 0 |
1 To support any element of the cost of attendance (as defined under Section 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA)) per Section 18004(c) of the CARES Act and the Interim Final Rule published in the Federal Register on June 17, 2020 (85 FR 36494). Community Colleges in California, all public institutions in Washington State, and all institutions in Massachusetts have different requirements due to recent U.S. District Court actions. Please discuss with legal counsel. HEERF litigation updates can be found here. 2 Including costs or expenses related to the disinfecting and cleaning of dorms and other campus facilities, purchases of personal protective equipment (PPE), purchases of cleaning supplies, adding personnel to increase the frequency of cleaning, the reconfiguration of facilities to promote social distancing, etc.
Category | Amount in (a)(1) institutional dollars | Amount in (a)(2) dollars, if applicable | Amount in (a)(3) dollars, if applicable | Explanatory Notes |
Purchasing, leasing, or renting additional instructional equipment and supplies (such as laboratory equipment or computers) to reduce the number of students sharing equipment or supplies during a single class period and to provide time for disinfection between uses. | $ 17,754 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Replacing lost revenue due to reduced enrollment. | $ 0 | $ 0 | ||
Replacing lost revenue from non‐tuition sources (i.e., cancelled ancillary events; disruption of food service, dorms, childcare or other facilities; cancellation of use of campus venues by other organizations, lost parking revenue, etc.).3 | $ 0 | $ 0 | ||
Purchasing faculty and staff training in online instruction; or paying additional funds to staff who are providing training in addition to their regular job responsibilities. | $ 24,526 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Purchasing, leasing, or renting additional equipment or software to enable distance learning, or upgrading campus wi‐fi access or extending open networks to parking lots or public spaces, etc. | $ 22,880 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Other Uses of (a)(1) Institutional Portion funds.4 | $ 7,009 | Cost for shipping remote access technology and costs to process student HEERF grants | ||
Other Uses of (a)(2) or (a)(3) funds, if applicable.5 | $ 0 | $ 0 | ||
Quarterly Expenditures for each Program | $ 0 | $ 0 | $ 0 | |
Total of Quarterly Expenditures | $ 325,286 | |||
3 Including continuance of pay (salary and benefits) to workers who would otherwise support the work or activities of ancillary enterprises (e.g., bookstore workers, foodservice workers, venue staff, etc.).
4 Please post additional documentation as appropriate and briefly explain in the “Explanatory Notes” section. Please note that costs for Section 18004(a)(1) Institutional Portion funds may only be used “to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus, so long as such costs do not include payment to contractors for the provision of pre‐enrollment recruitment activities; endowments; or capital outlays associated with facilities related to athletics, sectarian instruction, or religious worship.”
5 Please post additional documentation as appropriate and briefly explain in the “Explanatory Notes” section. Please note that costs for Sections 18004(a)(2) and (a)(3) funds may only be used “to defray expenses, including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, payroll incurred by institutions of higher education and for grants to students for any component of the student’s cost of attendance (as defined under section 472 of the HEA), including food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care.”
Paperwork Burden Statement
According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 1840‐0849. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 2 hours per response, including time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Under the PRA, participants are required to respond to this collection to obtain or retain benefit. If you have any comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate or suggestions for improving this individual collection, or if you have comments or concerns regarding the status of your individual form, application, or survey, please contact: Jack Cox, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202.