Overview
Berkshire Community College (BCC) is authorized by Section 5 of Chapter 15A of the Massachusetts General Laws and operates under the direction of a board of trustees, the members of which are appointed by the Governor. The president of BCC is the administrative head of the college and reports to the board of trustees. According to its website,
[BCC] strives to place higher education within reach of all residents of Berkshire County and beyond. BCC is committed to access, academic excellence, student success, and leadership in the community.
BCC is a member of the Massachusetts public higher education system, which consists of 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and five University of Massachusetts campuses. Founded in 1960, BCC was the first community college established by the Commonwealth. The main campus is in Pittsfield, and a satellite facility is in Great Barrington. In fiscal year 2021, 2,283 students were enrolled at BCC, and BCC offered 40 associate’s degree programs and 15 certificate programs.
In fiscal year 2020, BCC had operating revenue of $11,799,053 and non-operating revenue (state appropriation, federal assistance, and investment income) of $17,337,119. In fiscal year 2021, BCC had operating revenue of $11,219,010 and non-operating revenue of $19,190,462.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted by Congress on March 27, 2020, provided $31 billion for an Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the effect of the 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The ESF includes the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, and grants to state educational agencies and Governors’ offices. The ESF also allocated money for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program.
Section 18002 of the CARES Act awarded grants to states under the GEER Fund to provide emergency assistance funding to local educational agencies, institutions of higher education (IHEs), and other education-related entities. States can use GEER funding to provide emergency support through allocations to IHEs that serve the students who have been most significantly affected by COVID-19. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Education received $51 million of GEER funding and distributed approximately $21 million of it to the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education to support state IHEs.
According to the Frequently Asked Questions about the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER Fund) document distributed by the United States Department of Education (US DOE), IHEs may use GEER funding to provide the following:
- Staff, infrastructure and technology to support distance education, or remote learning;
- Academic support for libraries, laboratories, and other academic facilities;
- Institutional support for activities related to personnel, payroll, security, environmental health and safety, and administrative offices;
- Student services that promote a student’s emotional and physical well-being outside the context of the formal instructional program; and
- Student financial aid, such as IHE-sponsored grants and scholarships.
Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act provided funding for the HEERF I Program based on student enrollment. It required IHEs to spend at least 50% of the funding (referred to as the student portion) to provide students with emergency financial aid grants to help cover expenses related to the “disruption of campus operations due to coronavirus” and the remaining funding (the institutional portion) to cover institutional costs associated with “significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus.”
The student portion was to provide funding for items related to students’ cost of attendance, such as tuition, course materials, technology, food, housing, healthcare, and childcare. To be eligible for this funding, students must have completed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and could not be enrolled in an online-only academic program on March 13, 2020, the date the President declared the national emergency due to COVID-19. According to Section E(19) of US DOE’s Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Rollup Document,
Institutions may provide emergency financial aid grants to students using checks, electronic transfer payments, debit cards, and payment apps that adhere to [US DOE’s] requirements for paying credit balances [i.e., money paid directly] to students.
IHEs were responsible for determining how to distribute the grants to students, calculating the amount of each student grant, and developing any guidance to be provided to students for the grants.
The institutional portion could be used to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to COVID-19. These costs included expenditures to expand remote learning programs and build information technology capacity to support the programs (by upgrading WiFi and technology, providing laptops to students, and training faculty members in online instruction) as well as expenditures related to managing campus safety and operations (by disinfecting, cleaning, purchasing of personal protective equipment, adding personnel to increase cleaning frequency, and reconfiguring facilities to promote social distancing). Institutional funding could also be used to reimburse tuition and fees paid by students and to provide additional emergency financial aid grants to students. All expenses paid using this funding must have been incurred on or after March 13, 2020.
Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act
The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) was signed into law on December 27, 2020 to provide approximately $23 billion of additional funding to support IHEs affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like the CARES Act, Section 314(a)(1) of the CRRSAA allocated funding to IHEs by providing both student and institutional funding through HEERF II grants. US DOE modified its guidance to allow more students to receive funding. Under the modified guidance, students were no longer required to have completed a FAFSA or to be enrolled in on-campus classes to receive emergency financial aid grants.
US DOE also modified the guidance for the institutional portion, allowing IHEs to use funding to defray expenses associated with lost revenue. This updated guidance could also be applied to any CARES Act funding that was not expended by the time an IHE received CRRSAA funding.
American Rescue Plan Act
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act was signed into law, providing an additional $40 billion for the HEERF Program. The ARP Act required that at least half of each institution’s award be used to make emergency financial aid grants to students and the rest for institutional purposes.
US DOE’s guidance document for ARP Act funding, Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III Frequently Asked Questions, defines funding used for institutional purposes as follows:
[Funding used to] (a) implement evidence-based practices to monitor and suppress coronavirus in accordance with public health guidelines; and (b) conduct direct outreach to financial aid applicants about the opportunity to receive a financial aid adjustment due to the recent unemployment of a family member or independent student, or other circumstances.
Below is a summary of BCC’s financial activity related to COVID-19 funding during the audit period.
|
Grant Type |
Award |
Disbursements |
|
CARES Act 18004(a)(1) and CRRSAA 314(a)(1) Student |
$ 1,052,144.00 |
$ 1,052,144.00 |
|
CARES Act 18004(a)(1) and CRRSAA 314(a)(1) Institutional |
2,232,737.00 |
1,611,673.01 |
|
CARES Act 18004(a)(2) and CRRSAA 314(a)(2) Title III |
144,357.00 |
71,702.15 |
|
GEER Student |
103,209.00 |
103,209.00 |
|
GEER Institutional |
147,175.00 |
147,175.00 |
|
ARP Act 2003(a)(1) Student |
2,006,844.00 |
23,615.00 |
|
ARP Act 2003(a)(1) Institutional |
1,963,069.00 |
0.00 |
|
Total |
$ 7,649,535.00 |
$3,009,518.16 |
| Date published: | August 30, 2022 |
|---|