AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
CARES ACT HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUNDS REPORT #4

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:

1. Acknowledgment that the institution signed and returned the certification and agreement form and that the institution has used, or intends to use the funds to provide the mandated amount of at least 50% of the emergency financial aid grants to students:

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.

2. The total amount of funds that the institution will receive, or has received under the HEERF student portion.

ACC has received $6,953,900 to be used for CARES Act Student Aid.

3. (a) The total amount that has been distributed to students as of October 10, 2020: $6,252,034.13

(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.

4. The estimated total number of students at the institution eligible to participate in programs under Section 484 in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and therefore eligible to receive an emergency financial aid grant.

8,953  students (this excludes students enrolled in online courses and suspended SAP)

5. The total number of students who have received an emergency financial aid grant.

5,947 students total have received an emergency financial aid grant from the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Fund as of October 10, 2020.

6. How the institution determined which students did, or will receive emergency financial aid grants and how much funding they did, or will receive.

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:

• Must have FAFSA on file to determine Title IV eligibility
• Must be actively enrolled in ACC courses
• Must be in good standing with Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
• Excludes dual credit, international, continuing education, or adult education
• Students may request funds once per academic year, but additional requests *will* be reviewed and managed through different approaches.
• If students are ineligible for CARES Act Student Aid, their application will then be considered for ACC’s Student Emergency Fund. Students will not be required to complete an additional request.

Application:

• CARES Act Student Aid Website: www.austincc.edu/caresaid
• It is hosted on a secure Client Resource Management (CRM) system, Maxient, which our teams use to process and follow-up on requests.
• ChatBot implemented to answer student questions on a 24/7 basis.

Processing and Distribution of Emergency Funds

• The new online application for Student Aid is a single point of entry for CARES Act and Student Emergency Funds.
• After a student submits their CARES application, it is be routed for funding based on the eligibility status of the student (Title IV eligible -CARES Aid or non-Title IV eligible-Institutional Emergency Aid)
• It may take 3 - 5 days for disbursements of funds once an application is complete (during peak)
• ACC Business Office processes disbursements 5 days a week

7. Any instructions, directions, or guidance provided by the institution to students concerning the emergency financial aid grants.

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.

Student Communication

Web Traffic Analysis from August 20, 2020 through October 10, 2020:

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.

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:

• May 5:Summer 2020 Registration
• April 29:CARES Act Student Aid
• June 15: Fall 2020 Registration Support
• July 14: ACC Distributed $3.9 million

Media Coverage

April 16:

• KLBJ AM:Central Texas schools receiving CARES funding
• Spectrum News Austin:CARES funding coming to Central Texas colleges
• KVUE Austin:CARES funding coming to Central Texas colleges
• KUT Austin:ACC gets $14 million in CARES funding

April 30:

• Texas Patch:Austin Community College Receives CARES Act Funds
• Community Impact:Over 2,300 apply for Austin Community College CARES Act student relief in first 24 hours
• KUT.org:ACC begins accepting applications for CARES act funding
• KLBJ Radio:ACC begins accepting applications for CARES Act funding
• Spectrum Austin:ACC begins accepting applications for CARES funding
• KXAN Austin:CARES Act funding to help college students pay for food, rent, utilities

May 1:

• Spectrum Austin:ACC begins to accept CARES applications

July 20:

• Targeted News Service

July 17:

• El Mundo

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.