The Secretary of the Education Department (DE), Elba Aponte Santos, reported the approval and availability of $ 1,657,969.00 million from federal funds under the direct payments grant to students from post-secondary institutions.
The primary purpose of the aid is to provide emergency grants to students whose lives and education have been disrupted by the pandemic.
In addition, the DE’s designated secretary foresaw that the Department of Technical Education carries out the processes for the distribution of funds for active students currently affected by the pandemic emergency. About 1,475 students are eligible for federal aid.
In the case of DE, the eligible institutions are: the Puerto Rico Institute of Technology, the San Juan, Ponce, Manatí and Guayama campuses; the School of Troquelería y Herramentaje de Bayamón (ETH) and the Puerto Rico Aviation Maintenance Institute of Fajardo (PRAMI).
The Federal Ministry of Education (USDE) reported the availability of $ 21.2 billion to the country’s post-secondary institutions, under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF).
The Central Economic Assistance Unit of the DE outlines the procedure for allocating the funds. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) scholarship allows students to use this financial aid to cover the costs of materials, technology, food, and shelter, among other expenses related to the interruption of their education. “We plan to start the disbursement from February 26, 2021 and this will be done by bank transfer to all those students with active enrollment status during the second semester of the 2020-2021 academic year,” said the secretary.
The amount to be paid out for each student is approximately $ 1,100. As part of the processes, students are notified in writing and are required to complete the required documentation. For this, the systems are programmed in such a way that the notification is automatically sent to their e-mail accounts via the SIS system.