ARP (HEERF III) Student Portion Disclosure

The following is Virginia Tech’s required Quarterly Reporting for funds received under Section 18004(a)(1) of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) for the quarter ending June 30, 2022.

Virginia Tech, in accordance with the requirements outlined by the U.S. Department of Education, acknowledged and signed the agreement under the to provide Emergency Grants to students. Under the ARP, Virginia Tech received $24,850,725 to provide grants to students. Virginia Tech estimates that up to 37,279 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students were eligible to apply.

Automatic Grant Awarding

Virginia Tech automatically awarded grants to students who:

Were an undergraduate, graduate, or professional student who were enrolled for the fall 2021 at least half-time as defined by the Office of the University Registrar;
Had a 2021-2022 FAFSA on file with a valid Expected Family Contribution (EFC); and,
Had an EFC less than $30,000.

Students who received scholarships, grants, or other types of “free money” equal to or exceeding the Cost of Attendance were excluded from receiving automatically awarded grants because they had no exceptional by the FAFSA. However, these students ere eligible to apply for an emergency grant via the application process.

Students were automatically awarded the following amounts:

Undergraduate students who had an EFC less than $5,847 received a grant of $2,500;
Graduate and professional students who had an EFC less than $5,847 received a grant of $2,000;
Undergraduate students who had an EFC greater than or equal to $5,847 and less than or equal to $19,999 received a grant of $1,500;
Graduate and professional students who had an EFC greater than or equal to $5,847 and less than or equal to $19,999 received a grant of $1,000; and,
Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who had an EFC greater than or equal to $20,000 and less than or equal to $29,999 received a grant of $1,000.

11,689 students received a grant through this automatic awarding process.

Emergency Grant Application Awarding

Beginning on October 26, 2021, students who did not receive a block grant could apply for an emergency grant via Scholarship Central. Students were notified of this process via the Student and General Editions of VTX—Virginia Tech’s news and stories e-mail. The notices were published on October 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, and November 2. The grant application closed on November 9, 2021.

From this process, 1,421 grants were awarded to students in the amount of $1,000.

Grant Awarding for Students Enrolled for the Winter Session

On November 23 and December 2, e-mails were sent to undergraduate students enrolled in the winters session who had an Expected Family Contribution from the FAFSA less than $9,000. Just under 400 undergraduate students were notified they could apply for assistance up to $3,500 in HEERF III emergency funds to assist with their winter session tuition and fee bills. Students were provided with a link to apply for these funds. 211 students received grants to assist with their winter charges.

Grant Awarding to Assist with Meal Plan Increases

To assist students with the mid-year dining rate increase for on-campus dining plans, Virginia Tech used HEERF III funds as a grant to offset the increase for those students who were enrolled in a campus dining plan by December 10, which was advertised in the VTX News. For those students enrolled in the minor, major, mega, or premium flex plans, and had an Expected Family Contribution less than or equal to $30,000, the student received a grant in the amount of increase for the specific plan. Funds were credited to students’ Bursar accounts and refunded to the student to use for the spring bill. 4,642 students received a grant between $100 and $215, dependent upon the meal plan in which they were enrolled on December 10.

Note: Students on full scholarships or scholarships that covered tuition, fees, room, and board, received an increase to their scholarship to cover this difference and not HEERF III funds.

Grant Awarding for Students Enrolled for Spring Semester

In February, undergraduate students who were Pell eligible received a grant in the amount of $234 if they were classified as an in-state student and $236 if they were classified as an out-of-state student. Approximately, 4,029 students received this award.

Additionally, seven undergraduate students enrolled in the Spring who had the lowest Expected Family Contributions outside of the range for federal Pell Grant eligibility received a grant in the amount of $281.

These conclude the HEERF III Student Portion Updates for the Quarter Ending March 31, 2022.

April Grant Awarding for Graduate Students affected by Billing Issue

In April of 2022, 18 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students received a grant between $1,826 and $4,203 to assist with a clinical rotation COVID-related billing issue caused by the changes to the billing for adjusted clinical rotation schedules during COVID. These grants were provided to the students to allow them to pay their balances.

This concludes the HEERF III Student Portion Update for the Quarter Ending June 30, 2022 and is Virginia Tech’s Final Report.