Fall 2021 Update: COVID-19 CARES Emergency Grant Fund

Fall 2021 Update: COVID-19 CARES Emergency Grant Fund

Overview- Student Portion: 

As a result of Congress passing the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), Virginia State University (VSU) has been allocated $9,355,676 in additional emergency student aid. This aid will be awarded as CARES Act Higher Educational Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) III.  


Fall 2021 Awarding Philosophy: 

As we continue to experience extenuating circumstances due to the COVID-19 crisis, VSU will award funds to students actively enrolled for fall 2021. These funds may be used for tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care) and childcare.  

HEERF III Emergency Funds were calculated based on the priorities listed below: 

Priority 1: 

Pell grant recipients are defined as students with exceptional need.  Therefore, all students that received a fall 2021 Pell grant disbursement (undergraduate) will receive $535.50 in CARES Grant.  No application required.  The funds will disburse the week of December 13, 2021.    

Priority 2: 

All other students (undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral) will receive $309 in CARES Grant. No application required. The funds will disburse the week of December 13, 2021.  


Reporting Information: 

In fall 2021, 4,261 out of 4,300 students received $1,870,894.50 in HEERF III funds.  The remaining $7,484,781.50 will be disbursed at a later date.  Once the awarding procedure is established, it will be posted to this website, https://www.vsu.edu/news/coronavirus/index.php.   In addition, an e-mail communication will be sent to the VSU student body.  


Refund Information for students: 

VSU anticipates refunding the fall 2021 funds no later than December 17. The refund will be sent to your bank via direct deposit if you have an active account on file or a check will be mailed to your permanent address.  Students are encouraged to set-up direct deposit at https://www.vsu.edu/student-accounts/refunds.php. For questions about refunds, please contact the Student Accounts Office at bursar@vsu.edu.   

By accepting the refund, students are acknowledging they have a need for these funds to help with educational costs, or that they have incurred emergency costs arising due to Coronavirus, such as tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care) or child care.  No application required.  

For questions about CARES Grant eligibility, please email finaid-covid19@vsu.edu.