UTC will dedicate $4.7 million of funding it receives from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to support students with demonstrated need and who face significant financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UTC will receive additional CARES funding for a total of $9,513,779. It’s not yet known when the additional funds will be received, but those dollars will be designated by the federal government for other purposes and UTC will disburse them accordingly.
The dollars come from a higher education emergency relief fund included in the CARES Act, recently signed into law. In alignment with federal Department of Education recommendations, UTC will allocate the nearly $4.76 million to students in need as determined by several factors expected to include Pell Grant eligibility, expected family contribution and other immediate needs. Final eligibility details are to be determined in the upcoming days.
“As an institution, we recognize that a number of students are in difficult financial situations right now,” said UTC Associate Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Tyler Forrest.
“We are certainly looking to use these funds in the best way possible to mitigate those financial situations and to deploy them as quickly as possible to the eligible students, so they can be relieved of some of those financial burdens that they are feeling right now.”
UTC already is disbursing emergency funds to students with demonstrated need through the Denise and Tim Downey Student Emergency Fund, a resource established and supported with private contributions. Federal CARES Act funds are expected to supplement the student emergency fund, Forrest said.
UTC offers a range of additional resources for students:
Scrappy’s Cupboard food pantry
Refunds for unused portions of campus housing, meal plan and parking decals
University Health Services is still available for students with physical health questions over the phone
UTC Counseling Center offering remote services to students
Find more on these and other resources at: utc.edu/coronavirus.