Lincoln University is using a portion of its remaining federal COVID-19 relief dollars to provide emergency grants to students ahead of the spring semester.
On Wednesday, the Board of Curators budget and finance committee approved a recommendation from university administration to use $500,000 of the university's $6 million remaining federal relief dollars for emergency student grants.
Emergency grants can be used by students to help pay for university expenses, like tuition and housing fees.
"It's a well-known fact that our students, even after they've received all of the aid that they are eligible for, still have a gap in their aid package that they're challenged with trying to cover," said Sandy Koetting, vice president for administration and finance.
"Every dollar counts, and so we want to make sure that the students, when they come in, this is the last thing that they have to worry about is the financial aspect of an education," she said.
Koetting urged the committee to approve the measure as soon as possible to ensure the emergency grants could be provided to students for the upcoming spring semester.
Friday is the university's deadline for students to pay tuition and fees, and classes begin Monday.
Interim President John Moseley said he supports the move, noting it helps the students and the institution.
Koetting and Moseley said they didn't believe the appropriation would need board approval, but wanted to make the budget and finance committee aware of the plan before moving forward.
The university is not allowed to limit the distribution of the emergency grants to students based on GPA or academic performance, Koetting said.
"If they have a financial need, that's the top priority," Koetting said.
Federal COVID-19 relief to Lincoln was broken down into three categories: direct student aid, institutional funds and funds it has received for being a historically Black university.
The university originally received $6.6 million for student aid and has spent all but $54,000, Koetting said, but the university can use some of its institutional or HBCU funds to offer more student aid in the form of emergency grants.
Unlike the previous direct student aid, the emergency grants are limited to only the student's university expenses. Otherwise, they will be administered in the same way.
In deciding the amount to dedicate to emergency student grants, Koetting said she was using an estimate based on what was left after all other potential projects were accounted for. Her suggestion was $409,000.
Curator Richard Popp suggested making the appropriation an even half a million.
In addition to more student aid, the university is considering using its remaining $5.5 million in federal relief money to purchase around 700 laptops for students and 50 for faculty and staff, improve air quality within campus buildings, upgrade classroom technology and buy more COVID-19 supplies, like tests, masks and cleaning supplies.
Popp, chairman of the budget and finance committee, said the Board of Curators will need to decide how to spend the money soon so the university can have the funds designated before the federally set deadline.