MUSKEGON, Mich. — Muskegon Community College will distribute an additional $120,125 to 450 qualified students beginning in May through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.
Similar to the CARES Act, a portion of this funding is intended to provide emergency financial aid grants to students whose lives have been disrupted by the pandemic, according to a news release Friday.
This newest wave of funds will be disbursed through a request process in which students identified factors that demonstrated exceptional financial need related to the pandemic.
Individual awards range between $125 and $500.
Last February, Muskegon Community College awarded more than $400,000 in HEERF funds to 1,062 qualified students.
Those awards were distributed based on the number of Winter 2021 semester hours for which each student is registered.
Awards ranged between $150 to $750 per student.
To be eligible, each student had to be seeking a degree or certificate from MCC and be enrolled in at least one contact hour and have an Expected Family Contribution from the FAFSA below $5,712.
The grants may be used for any part of the student’s cost of attendance or for emergency costs that arose due to COVID-19, such as tuition, food, housing, health care – including mental health care – or child care.
In all, MCC received $4,751,064 in HEERF Funds through the CRRSAA to be expended by the end of 2021. Of that total, $1,123,675 is to be distributed to students as emergency grants.