Indiana University Bloomington Emergency Financial Assistance for Students
Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) was awarded $12 million from the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in spring 2020 to assist students who met the funding qualifications and were experiencing financial hardships caused by the pandemic. We are no longer accepting applications for CARES Act funding because we received enough applications to deplete the CARES Act funding granted to IUB.
If you have a question about a past emergency funding application, please email us at emrgfund@iu.edu.
To submit a new application for emergency funding during the 2020-2021 academic year, please go here.
If you or a student you care about is struggling, please consider completing a Care Referral.
Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Reporting
Indiana University signed and returned the Certification and Agreement to receive funds under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act to the Department of Education. By doing so, the university assures no less than 50 percent of the funds will be used to provide Emergency Financial Aid Grants to students. The Bloomington campus of Indiana University received $12,286,461 to provide Emergency Grants to students.
As of February 1, 2021, the total amount of Emergency Financial Aid Grants distributed to students under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act at IU Bloomington is $12,286,461.
The total number of students who are eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, who could be eligible to receive Emergency Financial Aid Grants under Section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act, is approximately 21,500. As of February 1, 2021, 13,096 applications have been received and 8,913 have been reviewed and awarded funds.
IUB used an application method to distribute grants to students. Through multiple communications from March – May 2020, students were encouraged to apply for emergency funds. These communications (from both the Provost and Vice Provost offices) included instructions for how to apply if students had faced disruption due to COVID-19 including the requirement of a completed FASFA to determine eligibility. Applicants were encouraged to apply based on their need with a maximum award of $1500. Additional guidance provided to students can be found below.
CARES Act HEERF funding
The PDF below documents expenditures from CARES Act HEERF funding, section 18004(a)(1-Institutional) and 18004(a)(2), as required by US Department of Education.
COVID-19 emergency aid will be awarded in accordance with federal, state and institutional regulations.
CARES Act Funding Eligibility
Students must meet Title IV federal student aid guidelines, which is demonstrated by completing a Free Application for Federal Student AID (FAFSA).
Students need to have been enrolled in the Spring 2020 semester.
Students who were not enrolled in an exclusively online distance education program prior to March 23, 2020.
Per Federal guidelines, International, DACA students and students enrolled in fully online programs are not eligible for CARES Act funding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Title IV eligibility requirements include but are not limited to the following; a student must be making Satisfactory Academic Progress, must not have defaulted on a federal student loan, they must have a Social Security Number and have registered for selective service if they are male. For other Title IV eligibility requirements, please reach out to Student Central.
If you have not completed a FAFSA, in order to assist you with CARES Act funding, you must complete the 2019-20 or 2020-2021 FAFSA to determine your federal Title IV eligibility for emergency assistance. The process takes less than 1 hour to complete and you can use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool within the application to pre-populate the federal tax return information. This will save you some time in completing the FAFSA. It will take 2-3 days to process the information and once we receive it, we will be able to resume processing your application for emergency assistance. Complete your FAFSA here: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa.
Please note – we can’t proceed with reviewing your application until the FAFSA is received.
The Federal Department of Education generally will notify the Office of Student Financial Aid in 2-3 business days that your FAFSA has been submitted. You may submit your FASFA and your emergency fund application on the same day, but funding decisions will not be made until FAFSA is complete.
If you have already applied for emergency funding and have a question or concern about your request, please email us at vpsa@indiana.edu. Please know our response time is slower due to the volume of calls and emails we are receiving. We thank you for your patience.
All emergency funds will be issued to your designated bank account via Direct Deposit from the Office of the Bursar. Please login to the Direct Deposit of Bursar refunds app on one.iu.edu confirm your designated bank account information is up to date or set it up immediately.
If you received CARES Act funding, it will have no impact on your 2019-2020 financial aid package. If you are receiving funding from another source, the Office of Student Financial Assistance has evaluated your aid package to ensure that your award amount fits in current package. Funds awarded are grants to students and do not require repayment.
For students who are receiving the CARES Act funding, they will need to go to their Bursar’s account to see the award and it will be listed as “CARES Act Emergency Relief.”
For students that qualify for IU Foundation supported donor funds, the award will be listed as “Warren Emergency Funds”.
Please email us at vpsa@indiana.edu if you have a question that is not addressed on this website or in the FAQs.
If the award disbursement you receive is different from the amount listed in your award notification email, please contact Student Central to inquire about emergency fund disbursement related questions only.
For other general inquiries about the COVID-19 emergency fund process, please reach out to vpsa@indiana.edu. Thank you for your patience as we work to answer your individual inquiry.
To check your Bursar account for the CARES Act Relief Funds you were awarded, go to Student Billing, click on Statements, look for CARES Act Relief Funds. There are two transactions to look for. The first transaction is the date the award was posted to your Bursar account, the 2nd transaction is the date the funds were refunded to you via direct deposit to your designated bank account.
Submit an FAQ here
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