The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, more widely known as the CARES Act was passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by President Donald Trump on Mar. 27, 2020.

The economic relief package was comprised of over $2 trillion to help protect American people from the public health and economic impacts of COVID-19. The CARES Act provided fast and direct assistance for American workers, families, small businesses, and most importantly, college students.

The Department of Education announced that under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund of the CARES Act, nearly $177.4 million would go to support post-secondary education students. Colleges and universities were required to utilize the funds to provide cash grants to students for expenses related to disruptions in their education due to the COVID-19 outbreak, including things like course materials and technology as well as food, housing, health care, and even childcare.

Tarleton State University serves a very broad community of students all over the state of Texas and even online. These students each have unique needs as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to meet these needs, Tarleton students and their families who have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic were able to apply for the CARES Act.

Tarleton is currently set to award approximately $5.7 million in emergency grants to assist students as part of its CARES Emergency Aid Program.

These funds will be used to directly address financial hardship, including housing, food insecurity, medical expenses and lack of educational support and supplies, including new technology expenses related to classes.

Tarleton CARES Act applications were considered and processed on a first-come, first-served basis for students enrolled in corresponding semesters.

For students enrolled in the Fall 2020 semester the application opened on August 20, 2020 and will close on November 30, 2020. Funding will be disbursed after Sept. 8, 2020, to those students that meet all of the eligibility requirements.

The specific types of expenses considered under the CARES Act include; utility bills, technology, school expenses, urgent medical expenses, housing, food insecurity, transportation, or others if you can specify your direct need if not covered in another category.

To be eligible students must be a US Citizen or an eligibility non-citizen, must be enrolled in the current term, complete the application completely and correctly, must have a current FAFSA on file with the Tarleton Financial Aid office, and must be in a degree-seeking program.

Many Tarleton staff and faculty have been encouraging students to take advantage of this opportunity for economic assistance. If these funds are not given out then they disappear.

Tarleton State University President, Dr. James Hurley, has been encouraging students to apply. He has been visibly advocating for students to receive the funding they so desperately need.

If interested in applying for the Spring funds students can visit the Tarleton website and in the search bar search CARES. The link needed is “CARES ACT Grant and other Emergency Aid for Students Application”. Students will need to click the “Apply Now” button and this will send them to the form they need to completely fill out.

Students can visit https://www.tarleton.edu/finance-administration/emergency-relief/index.html to directly access the link.