Pitt awards financial aid for virus costs to students

About 15,200 students on all five University of Pittsburgh campuses are to receive grants of $600 or $1,050, depending on their individual situations, to offset unexpected educational costs due to COVID-19, according to university officials.

Recipients are being notified by campus email, with awards to appear in Pitt PAY on the Account Activity tab for spring 2021, officials explained in a statement on the school’s website Friday. The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act became law Dec. 27. It includes $22.9 billion for higher education institutions, including money going directly to students.

Pitt’s allocation totaled $30.6 million for institutional expenses, including technology costs, refunds and other revenue impacts due to the pandemic, as well as direct

emergency student aid. In a statement, Pitt said $15.3 million, or half of its allocation, would go to direct student aid.

“Students who have signed up for PittPAY eRefundswill receive the money directly in the bank account they have designated on the eRefunds tab within 2-3 business days,” Pitt’s statement said. Students who have not registered for PittPAY eRefunds will receive a check at their home addresses within 10 to 14 days, the statement added.

Officials say the federal eligibility formula is weighted toward undergraduates but allows graduate students to receive grants, too.

In the spring, Pitt distributed to 11,400 eligible students grants between $500 and $1,000 from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The grants were from $10.6 million in direct student aid, about half the CARES Act amount Pitt received.

The larger federal appropriation this winter came with a requirement that Pitt spend on student aid at least what it did last year, $10.6 million, but university officials said given the severity of pandemic’s impact on student finances, it allocated an additional $4.7 million. That allows Pitt “to provide grants to even more students,” Provost Ann Cudd said.

Pitt’s five campuses enroll about 34,000 students, 29,000 of them on the main Oakland campus, plus branches at Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown and Titusville.

More information about these grants and what can be expected is found at www.coronavirus.pitt.edu/crrsaa-funding.