Overview
Worcester State University (WSU) 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 WSU is the administrative head of the college and reports to the board of trustees. According to its website, WSU’s mission is as follows:
Worcester State University champions academic excellence in a diverse, student-centered environment that fosters scholarship, creativity, and global awareness. A Worcester State education equips students with knowledge and skills necessary for lives of professional accomplishment, engaged citizenship, and intellectual growth.
WSU 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. According to its website, WSU was founded in 1874 and is a liberal arts and sciences university serving approximately 5,500 undergraduate and 900 graduate students.
In the fall 2020 semester, WSU offered 30 undergraduate major degree programs, 50 undergraduate minor degree programs, and 35 graduate degree programs to students. In fiscal year 2021, state appropriations made up 39% of WSU’s total revenue, and federal and state grants made up 7%.
For fiscal year 2020, WSU had operating revenue of $64,904,371 and non-operating revenue (state appropriation, federal assistance, and investment income) of $44,540,591. For fiscal year 2021, WSU had operating revenue of $58,240,634 and non-operating revenue of $49,467,024.
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 an Education Stabilization Fund (ESF) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the impact 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 ESF grants to state educational agencies and Governors’ offices. The ESF also allocated money for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) Program.
The United States Department of Education (US DOE) awarded grants to states under the GEER Fund to provide local educational agencies, institutions of higher education (IHEs), and other education-related entities with emergency assistance funds. States can use GEER funding to provide emergency support through allocations to their IHEs that serve the students who have been most significantly affected by COVID-19. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Education received $50.8 million of GEER funding. The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education received approximately $20.5 million of this funding to support Commonwealth 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(a)(1) of the CARES Act provided funding from the HEERF 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 funds (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 these funds, students must have completed the “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. 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 about the grants.
WSU developed a model that distributed approximately 90% of the student portion directly to eligible students based on how many credit hours they took in the spring 2020 semester. Eligible students received these payments automatically. Student payments were distributed in tiers:
|
Tier |
Spring 2020 Credit Hours |
Distribution |
|
1 |
12+ |
$550 |
|
2 |
6–11.99 |
$300 |
|
3 |
0.1–5.99 |
$150 |
WSU reserved the remaining 10% of the student portion for supplemental emergency payments to students with additional critical financial needs resulting from the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19. Students could apply for supplemental emergency payments; they had to meet the eligibility requirements mentioned above and provide supporting documentation (such as receipts, bills, and proof of loss of income) to receive payments. Any supplemental funding they received was in addition to the automatic payments mentioned above.
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, build information technology capacity to support the programs (by upgrading Wi-Fi and technology, providing laptops to students, and training faculty members in online instruction) and manage campus safety and operations (by disinfecting, cleaning, purchasing personal protective equipment, adding personnel to increase the frequency of cleaning, and reconfiguring facilities to promote social distancing). Institutional funds 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 these funds 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 December 27, 2020 to provide approximately $22.7 billion of additional funding to support IHEs affected by COVID-19.
Like the CARES Act, Section 314(a)(1) of CRRSAA allocated funding to IHEs by providing both student and institutional portions of funding. US DOE modified its guidance to allow more students to receive funding. Under the modified guidance, students were no longer required to have completed the FAFSA or be enrolled in on-campus classes to receive emergency financial aid grants. IHEs were again responsible for determining how to distribute the grants to students, calculating the amount of each grant, and developing any guidance to be provided to students about the grants.
In an effort to support its students with the highest financial need, WSU developed a model that distributed approximately 80% of the student portion directly to eligible students based on how many credit hours they took in the spring 2021 semester as well as expected family contribution (EFC).1 Eligible students received these payments automatically. Student payments were distributed in tiers:
|
Tier |
Spring 2021 Credit Hours |
Distribution |
|
1 |
12+ |
$300 |
|
2 |
6–11.99 |
$200 |
|
3 |
0.1–5.99 |
$100 |
Students who were given awards received an additional CRRSAA direct payment (bonus) if their EFC was between $0.00 and $5,711.99:
|
Tier |
EFC |
Distribution Bonus |
|
Bonus 1 |
$0–$2,000 |
$300 |
|
Bonus 2 |
$2,000.01–$4,000 |
$200 |
|
Bonus 3 |
$4,000.01–$5,711.99 |
$100 |
|
No Bonus |
$5,712+ or no EFC |
$0 |
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 funds that were not expended by the time an IHE received CRRSAA funding.
Below is a summary of WSU’s financial activity related to COVID-19 funding from March 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021.
|
Grant Type |
Award |
Disbursements |
|
CARES 18004(a)(1) Student |
$ 2,111,417 |
$ 2,111,417 |
|
CARES 18004(a)(1) Institutional |
2,111,417 |
2,111,417 |
|
GEER |
303,800 |
303,800 |
|
CRRSAA 314(a)(1) Student |
2,111,417 |
1,885,585 |
|
CRRSAA 314(a)(1) Institutional |
5,283,382 |
2,059,979 |
|
Total |
$ 11,921,433 |
$ 8,472,198 |
| Date published: | March 11, 2022 |
|---|