ARP at MCC

ARP

On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act federal relief package was signed into law. Muskegon Community College was allocated $8,367,136 through ARPA and the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III (HEERF III). At least $4,247,002 of these total funds must be distributed as grants to students.

Similar to the CARES Act and CRRSAA, a portion of this funding is intended to provide emergency financial aid grants to students whose lives have been disrupted by COVID-19. Also similar to CRRSAA, ARP requires that institutions prioritize students with exceptional need. The grants may be used for any part of the student’s cost of attendance or for emergency costs that arise due to coronavirus, such as tuition, food, housing, health care (including mental health care) or childcare.

$582,900 in remaining HEERF II funds were added to the $4,247,002 in received HEERF III student funds, for a total of $4,829,902 to be used in disbursements for Fall 2021, Winter and Fall 2022.

In accordance with Section 314(a)(1) of CRRSAA and 2003(a)(1) of ARP, MCC plans to distribute ARP funds and the remainder of the student CRRSAA funds to eligible students during the Fall 2021, Fall 2022, and Winter 2023 semesters.

MCC will distribute funds to qualified students in block grants and additional funds will be prioritized to students with exceptional financial need related to the pandemic based on students’ Expected Family Contribution (EFC) data derived from Free Application for Financial Aid (FAFSA) data. Under this distribution method, MCC distributed a total of $2,257,200 to 3,687 students in October 2021, $1,552,600 to 3,447 students in November 2022 with the remaining $1,029,402 in funds to be distributed during the Winter 2023 semester.

ARP Reporting

The following reporting is in compliance with Section 18004(e) of the ARP HEERF funds, and provides transparency related to the funding and disbursements.

Student Portion

Institutional Portion