CARES Funding

Funds to assist students with emergency situations.

Expense Covered:

Funds to assist students with emergency situation that have occurred due to COVID-19, that is included in the Cost of Attendance, and not able to be met by other means.

How the amount of grant was calculated:

Student completes an online form declaring the emergency funding reason. The amount of funding is based upon the students request and, in some cases, verified via student meetings with CMU IRIS Advisors.

Student criteria:

Must be enrolled in Spring 2020 and enrolled in Fall 2020 and express financial hardship (i.e.: food, health care, childcare, etc.) that cannot be resolved by other means. Student has exhausted all financial aid options and cannot work through the student employment program.

Instructions given to Student:

Utilizing an online form, students can request up to $250 by explaining the student’s emergency funding needs due to COVID-19. Students can request from $251 to $1000 by meeting with a CMU IRIS Advisor.

Funds to assist students with emergency situations.

Expense Covered:

Funds to assist students with emergency situation that have occurred due to COVID-19, that is included in the Cost of Attendance, and not able to be met by other means.

How the amount of grant was calculated:

Student works with Admissions Counselor to complete an online form declaring the emergency funding reason. The amount of funding is based upon the students request and, in some cases, verified via student meetings with CMU Admission Counselors.

Student criteria:

Must be enrolled in Fall 2020 and express financial hardship (i.e.: food, health care, childcare, etc.) that cannot be resolved by other means. Student has exhausted all financial aid options.

Instructions given to Student:

Utilizing an online form, students can request up to Cost of Attendance, not to exceed the maximum PELL Grant amount. 

Funds to assist students displaced by housing closure.

Expense Covered:

The Emergency housing funding is utilized to assist students that needed to relocate due to the closing of residence halls. Funds are used for room and food necessities. Students that were deemed to have no other living arrangements were allowed to stay on campus.

How the amount of grant was calculated:

Funds allocated to students were calculated on the remaining days that were allowed for room and board costs from the closing of the residence hall upon checking out and the remaining days left in the semester. The amount of the adjustment for housing was prorated on the amount the student actually paid for housing. Students that did not actually pay for housing and food were not allotted funds.

Student Criteria:

Student must be in housing during the Spring 2020, have indicated to Residence Life they are moving out, and have greater out of pocket housing costs than scholarships and grants applied to housing.

Instructions given to Student:

Fund to be utilized for housing and food expenses due to having to relocate.

Funds to assist students that struggle with online format for classes.

Expense Covered:

Costs incurred due to for students that struggled with classes being switched to online format.

How the amount of grant was calculated:

Student completes an online form declaring the classes the student desired to withdraw from and retake at a later date. The amount of funding is based upon the cost of the classes withdrawn.

Student Criteria:

Student must be enrolled in Spring 2020 semester, and request a withdraw and refund within the electronic form process.

Instructions given to student:

Student instructed to complete online request to withdraw from class. The student must certify that the cause of the learning issue is due to the change to online learning due to COVID-19. Funds can be utilized for future face to face class learning in upcoming semesters.

Funds to assist students with emergency situations.

Expense Covered:

Funds to assist students with emergency situation that have occurred due to COVID-19, such as food, housing, healthcare, mental healthcare or childcare and/or any component of the cost of attendance such as tuition, dorm, meal plan, books, supplies, and technology.

How the amount of grant was calculated:

Student completes an online form declaring the emergency funding reason. The amount of funding is based upon the students request and, in some cases, verified via student meetings with CMU IRIS Advisors.

Student criteria:

Must be enrolled in Spring 2021, must be a citizen, must not have reached the maximum CARES funding amount of $6345, express financial hardship (i.e.: food, health care, childcare, etc.) related to COVID-19.

Instructions given to Student:

Utilizing an online form, student can request up to $2,500 (not to exceed account balance) automatic, if requesting to pay their balance down. Student can request $1,000 automatic, if requesting direct payment to student. If student meets with IRIS/Financial Counseling appointment, and the counselor determines there is a need greater than $2500 for COA support or greater than $1000 for emergency hardship support, the counselor can send the unique form link to the student and request up to the maximum $6345.