New COVID-19 Relief Bill: An Estimate of What Individual Institutions May Receive
January 07, 2021

​​​​​​​The COVID-19 relief measure approved by Congress Dec. 21, 2020, and signed into law Dec. 27 by President Trump provides $22.7 billion in emergency assistance for higher education institutions and students

That total includes $20.2 billion for public and private nonprofit institutions and their students; $1.7 billion specifically for historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities, and other minority-serving institutions; $113 million set aside for institutions with the greatest unmet need or those not served by the primary formula, such as independent graduate schools; and $681 million dedicated for emergency aid for students attending for-profit universities.

ACE has conducted a simulation of how the Department of Education (ED) might allocate the main $20.2 billion pot of funding to about 3,500 public and private, nonprofit colleges and universities.

To do so, ACE used the plain language of the allocation formula found in Section 314(a)(1) of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities provided assistance compiling the underlying data from multiple federal higher education databases. Please note that It is not known if ED will use the methodology that ACE employed.

Click here to view the ACE simulation, and here for a description of the ACE simulation methodology.