October 10, 2020
While the U.S. Department of Education (ED) develops a process for institutions to directly provide the required reporting data, it has in the meantime called for institutions to make easily accessible to the public — via the institution's website — the following items:
On April 10, 2020, Dr. Richard Rhodes, ACC president/CEO, signed and submitted to the Department of Education (DOE) the Certification and Agreement for a formula grant under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security ACT Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (CARES HEERF). ACC intends to use these funds for emergency aid to students. In compliance with DOE mandate that 50% of total ACC CARES HEERF funds awarded go directly to student aid. ACC was awarded $13,907,000, of which $6,953,900 (50% of total award) has been earmarked for student aid.
ACC has received $6,953,900 to be used for CARES Act Student Aid.
(b) The total amount distributed between August 20 and October 10, the fourth
reporting period: $2,103,279.03
The CARES Aid application and disbursements were paused during summer term on [July 29, 2020] to prepare for fall 2020. Applications opened on August 21, 2020. Due to a high volume of applications received in a short period of time, the application was closed again on September 2, 2020 and reopened on September 18, 2020 after review of the applications and distribution of funds.
8,953 students (this excludes students enrolled in online courses and suspended SAP)
5,947 students total have received an emergency financial aid grant from the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Fund as of October 10, 2020.
Austin Community College convened a committee with membership from the president’s cabinet, the business office, the financial aid office, the ACC foundation office, student affairs communication, ACC marketing, student support advocates, and enrollment management. The following brief was developed:
Overview:
On April 20, 2020, ACC received $6,953,900 from the Department of Education as part of the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. ACC will distribute these emergency funds to students who have experienced or are faced with disruptions of education due to COVID-19. The coronavirus has negatively impacted the health and wellness of ACC students and their families, as well as the regional economy. ACC is keenly aware that the COVID-19 impact has exacerbated pre-existing systemic inequalities and has affected Central Texas’s marginalized communities more deeply than others. In a coordinated effort, ACC will swiftly distribute funds in such a way that it empowers students to use them for their greatest priorities, such as food, housing, health care, child care, learning materials, and more. With the distribution of funding, students will have access to ACC’s full social support resources.
Student Eligibility:
Application:
Processing and Distribution of Emergency Funds
CARES Act Student Aid Design
Below, is an example of the CARES Act Student Aid design used across multiple web and social media channels to build awareness of and promote access to the CARES Act funds for students.
Date | Type | Description | Link |
---|---|---|---|
7/27/2020 | Newsletter | Student Affairs Newsletter: Mention of CARES Act Funding - Applying for CARES | Student Affairs Newsletter: Return to Campus Plan, Meet the Academic Coaches, College Closed July 3rd. |
8/28/2020 | Fall 2020 - Welcome Message - Brief mention of CARES Student Aid under the Remote Services Portion. | Welcome Riverbats!! Stay Safe, Adapt & Stand Strong | |
10/17/2020 | Newsletter | Student Affairs Newsletter: CARES Act Student Aid Open announcement | Student Affairs Newsletter: Career Ready Week, ACC Cares Funds, Enneagram Workshop, Zoom a Librarian & more |
4/30/2020 | Social Media | Times are tough, but ACC is here to help you stay on track. The ACC CARES Act Student Aid is now available. Current and new students who have been affected by COVID-19 can apply for financial support. Click here to start: www.austincc.edu/caresaid #ACC4Everyone |
Facebook: 3,450 reach, 193 engagements Twitter: 2,690 impressions, 75 engagements Instagram: 1,121 reach, 51 engagements LinkedIn: 4,425 impressions, 45 reactions |
How they found it: Search Query top 10:
The prevalence of the term "CARES" in searches shows that users were familiar with the term and connected it with ACC in their searches.
Query | Clicks | Impressions | CTR | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
acc cares act | 860 | 1010 | 85.15% | 1.00 |
cares act acc | 184 | 209 | 88.04% | 1.00 |
austin community college cares act | 58 | 70 | 82.86% | 1.00 |
cares act austin community college | 42 | 47 | 89.36% | 1.00 |
acc cares | 37 | 41 | 90.24% | 1.00 |
acc cares act student aid | 25 | 26 | 96.15% | 1.00 |
cares acc | 9 | 13 | 69.23% | 1.00 |
cares act student aid acc | 9 | 9 | 100.00% | 1.00 |
acc cares act application | 8 | 10 | 80.00% | 1.00 |
cares act financial aid | 3 | 56 | 5.36% | 9.18 |
cares act application for students | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 4.50 |
cares application | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 6.00 |
cares act student aid | 1 | 10 | 10.00% | 5.60 |
apply for cares act student | 1 | 3 | 33.33% | 5.67 |
austin cares act | 1 | 2 | 50.00% | 6.00 |
student cares act application | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 5.00 |
accc cares act | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 6.00 |
cares act covid relief fund | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 7.00 |
ut austin cares act application | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 11.00 |
Traffic:
With 14,0617 Pageviews and 9,930 of those being unique we are showing a slight decline in traffic for the measured periods. That being said, the opening spike in traffic is slightly larger than the previous period with but with smaller spikes throughout the period.
External Media
The Office of Communications & Marketing generated targeted media awareness to elevate this news in the community with coverage airing and publishing across multiple media outlets. Within the first 24 hours of announcing applications open, ACC generated eight different media reports. Through external efforts, the reach of information hit more than 2 million people in the community.
Media Advisory
Sent:
Media Coverage
April 16:
April 30:
May 1:
July 20:
July 17:
Institutional CARES ACT HEERF
In May 2020, Austin Community College District received $6,953,900 in CARES Act Institutional Funding to assist with the transition from in-person to online courses, and as of October 13, 2020 $3,863,831,57 has been spent leaving a balance of $3,090,068.43. The College has used the funds to procure tablets, notebook computers, a (COVID-19) health screening app, instructional software and supplies.