Secretary of the Department of Education (DE), Elba Aponte Santos, reported the approval and availability of $ 1,657,969.00 in federal funds under the direct payment grant to students from the agency’s post-secondary institutions.
The main purpose of the aid is to provide emergency scholarships to students whose lives and education have been disrupted by the pandemic.
In addition, the DE Secretary-General anticipated that the Technical Education Division would be in the process of distributing funds to active students who were currently affected by the pandemic emergency. About 1,475 students qualify for federal aid.
In the case of DE, the eligible institutions are: the Technological Institute on the campuses of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Ponce, Manati and Guayama; Bayquelón Troquelería y Herramentaje School (ETH) and the Puerto Rican Aviation Maintenance Institute in Fajardo (PRAMI).
The Federal Department of Education (USDE) has notified the availability of $ 21.2 billion to the nation’s post-secondary institutions under the Emergency Higher Education Assistance Fund II (HEERF).
The ED’s Central Economic Assistance Unit describes the funding process. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) grant will allow students to use this financial aid to cover the costs of materials, technology, food and accommodation, among other expenses related to disruption of education. “We plan to start payments on February 26, 2021 and it will be by bank transfer to all those students with active enrollment status during the second semester of the 2020-2021 academic year,” the secretary reported.
The amount to be paid for each student will be approximately $ 1,100. As part of the process, students will be informed in writing and will need to complete the necessary documentation. For this, the systems have been programmed so that the notification is automatically sent to their e-mail accounts via the SIS system.