In the midst of a raging pandemic, Colorado Mesa University (CMU) Administration’s latest financial aid offers the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) grant, have given out two rounds of funding to combat COVID-19 hardship among students.
“So about 7,000 students received some form of support totaling about $8.2 million,” CMU Scholarship Programs Coordinator Thomas Lorendo said, “That’s not just from that one grant, because we had multiple grants that we did so one was last Spring when [the pandemic] happened.”
Unlike a majority of financial aid, CMU students had the option to apply for a financial grant inside or outside of school.
“We helped pay tuition balances, or if students had to leave, instead of returning the funding, like a normal financial aid would we used the CARES money to pay for that,” Lorendo said, “And then with this, we’ve set up that for students that had needed additional expenses outside of institutional costs.”
One of the biggest advantages of this grant was that there was no set threshold for how many students could access the grant.
“We had a set amount of dollars that we had, not necessarily a set amount of students,” Lorendo said. “So it varied from how much was requested because students could request up to one point $2,500 to pay tuition or $1,000 outside, so it just kind of depends on who needs what kind of help.”
Like every other form of financial aid, however, there are rarely enough funds to properly aid every struggling student at CMU.
“I’m really pleased with the dollar amounts, and how many students applied,” Director of Financial Aid Lindsey Campbell said, “I would say that we did not expect how quickly it would go, and how much hardship is happening to students outside of school because of what’s going on.”
For CMU students who may have missed the application deadlines, know not to lose hope, and keep an open eye for future rounds of funding.
“There are talks about getting additional funding from peers for a third round,” Lorendo said, “And once that happens, depending on if they change the rules, regulations, and the guidelines set forth for that will determine again, how long it takes us to get that application out. But if we get that additional funding, then yes, we will open this up again, for students.”
Not all hope is lost for those who may not have been aware of the grant, so make sure to stay active on CMU’s MavZone for email updates from Integrated Resources for Information and Solutions (IRIS).
