By Jorge Villa
Long Beach State announced that all degree-seeking students will receive up to $1,200 from the Higher Educational Emergency Relief Fund and a portion from the state university grant funds by April 15.
During the Associated Students, Inc. Senate weekly Zoom meeting Wednesday, Jeff Klaus, associate vice president of student affairs, said that students who qualify to receive funds must be enrolled in at least one unit. Full-time students with over 12 units will receive the highest amount.
While international and undocumented students don’t typically qualify for financial aid, the state university grant funds set aside a little over $200,000 that was able to be allocated for these students, according to Klaus.
“Our goal is to try to make sure that every student receives some funding,” Klaus said. “So I just wanted to make sure you, as a leadership body, were aware of what was going on, a little bit about the timeframe.”
Passed on Dec. 27, 2020, the HEERF is the second emergency aid granted to CSULB following the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stimulus Act disbursement last spring. Of the $67,421,424 total allotment, the university has only received $23,301,100 three weeks ago, Klaus said.
This explains why universities like California State University, Los Angeles were able to allocate funds to students as early as February.
Klaus said another reason why CSULB’s disbursement has taken so long is the implementation of stronger safety measures with two layers of security to avoid fraudulent activity.
“We just got word that CashNet supplied us with the information that we need this week to do some final testing, and our plan is to distribute all of the funds at the same time,” Klaus said.
The university sent a mass email to students on April 6 detailing the amount they would receive, with further information on how the payment will be processed.
Associated Students, Inc. Senate will reconvene via Zoom next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
