Overview
Fitchburg State University (FSU) is authorized by Section 5 of Chapter 15A of the Massachusetts General Laws and operates under the direction of a board of trustees, consisting of one undergraduate student member, one alumni member, and nine members appointed by the Governor. The president of FSU is the administrative head of the university and reports to the board of trustees. According to its website, FSU is “a public institution located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, dedicated to integrating high-quality professional programs with strong liberal arts and sciences studies.”
FSU 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 1894, FSU has more than 30 undergraduate programs and 22 master’s degree programs. As of fall 2021, FSU had 3,349 undergraduate students and 3,325 graduate students for a total of 6,674 students. As of fall 2021, FSU had 191 faculty and 338 staff members for a total of 529 employees.
In fiscal year 2020, FSU had operating revenue of $70,784,219 and non-operating revenue (state appropriation, federal assistance, and investment income) of $42,988,379. In fiscal year 2021, FSU had operating revenue of $70,162,612 and non-operating revenue of $47,694,781.
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted by Congress on March 27, 2020, provided $30.75 billion for the Education Stabilization Fund to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States Department of Education’s (US DOE’s) Education Stabilization Fund included Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, and Education Stabilization Fund grants to state educational agencies and Governors’ offices. The Education Stabilization Fund 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 could use GEER funding to provide emergency support through allocations to IHEs that served the students who were most significantly affected by COVID-19. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Education received $50.8 million in GEER funding to distribute to schools in the state as support for operations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education received approximately $20.5 million in GEER funding to support state IHEs.
According to the Frequently Asked Questions about the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER Fund) document distributed by 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 of the CARES Act required recipients to use no less than 50% of the funds received (referred to as the student portion) to provide emergency financial aid grants to students for expenses related to the disruption of campus operations because of the COVID-19 pandemic (including tuition, course materials, food, housing, technology, healthcare, and childcare). This section also allowed IHEs to use up to 50% of the funds received (referred to as the institutional portion) to cover any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students could receive funding under the CARES Act if they filed a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or if they applied for funding using an application developed by the institution disbursing the funds. At institutions that provided both online and on-campus education, students were not eligible if they were enrolled in an online-only program on March 13, 2020, the date the President declared the national emergency.
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.
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 Free Application for Federal Student Aid 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 FSU’s financial activity related to COVID-19 funding during the audit period.
|
Grant Type |
Award |
Disbursements |
|
CARES Act 18004(a)(1)–Student |
$ 1,955,463 |
$ 1,955,463 |
|
CARES Act 18004(a)(1)–Institutional |
1,955,462 |
1,955,462 |
|
GEER |
280,875 |
280,875 |
|
CRRSAA 314(a)(1)–Student |
1,955,463 |
1,934,750 |
|
CRRSAA 314(a)(1)–Institutional |
4,899,039 |
4,899,039 |
|
ARP Act–Student |
5,788,078 |
2,906,850 |
|
ARP Act–Institutional |
5,639,971 |
5,474,933 |
|
Total |
$ 22,474,351 |
$ 19,407,372 |
| Date published: | September 15, 2023 |
|---|