UNC Greensboro is offering students $1,500 toward the cost of campus housing for the 2021-22 academic year.
New and returning undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to receive the housing grant, which UNCG is offering from its portion of institutional aid from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF). Part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act passed in late December, HEERF money was directed to colleges and universities to use toward coronavirus response and relief.
When deciding how to use HEERF funds, UNCG campus leadership was focused on how they could directly benefit students, said Tina McEntire, vice chancellor for the UNCG Division of Enrollment Management. “We decided on housing grants because we know there’s a proven value to living on campus. It contributes to students being happier, more engaged, and earning better grades.”
A 2015 analysis of National Survey of Student Engagement data showed that students living on campus spend more time on average preparing for class than their off-campus counterparts. They are also more likely to experience higher quality interactions with their peers.
“We know that many students and families have experienced hardships during the pandemic, so we hope this grant relieves some of their financial burden going into the new academic year,” said McEntire.
UNCG offers a variety of housing options, from traditional to apartment style, in more than two-dozen residence halls that range from historic to brand-new. The university’s residence halls have remained open throughout the pandemic with very limited spread of COVID-19, and students can now receive a COVID-19 vaccination on campus. For more information about UNCG’s housing grants, visit hrl.uncg.edu/housing-grant.
“Thanks to the vaccine and the community spirit of our students, we’re looking forward to a fall semester that looks much closer to normal,” McEntire said.
The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) is authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), Public Law 116-260, signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020. In total, the CRRSAA authorizes $81.88 billion in support for education, in addition to the $30.75 billion expeditiously provided last spring through the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Public Law 116-136.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act or, CARES Act, was passed by Congress on March 27th, 2020. This bill allotted $2.2 trillion to provide fast and direct economic aid to the American people negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Of that money, approximately $14 billion was given to the Office of Postsecondary Education as the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, or HEERF.
