APLU Statement on Final Passage of COVID-19 Relief Bill & Funding Projections for Universities

Washington, DC – Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) President Peter McPherson today released the following statement on final passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. APLU also released projections of how much funding public and non-profit private colleges and universities will receive from the legislation.

“The public university community is very grateful for the funding the bill provides to schools and their students. This past year has brought great hardship to public universities and many of their students. Universities have faced the multiple financial hits of increased costs to keep their campuses safe, precipitous revenue losses, and alarming losses of state funding. This emergency funding is so critical to enable public universities to continue advancing their critical public service mission. We look forward to President Biden signing this measure into law and to working with his administration and Congress on future steps to strengthen public higher education.”

APLU put together a comprehensive summary of provisions of most significance to public universities. The American Rescue Plan Act includes $39.6 billion for a Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), 91 percent of which provides funding to all nonprofit and public colleges and universities and 7.5 percent of which is for additional funding to HBCUs, MSIs, and institutions that qualify for the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). Remaining funds are provided by the Department of Education to institutions that “have the greatest amount of unmet need” and to for-profit institutions.

APLU’s projections of funding to institutions are as follows:

• Primary allocation of funding — to all public and nonprofits (note amounts required to be used for student grants)
• Additional funding for HBCUs, MSIs, and SIP