Starting this week, Georgia Southern began distributing over $11 million worth of grants to roughly half of its student population as part of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) signed into law in late December of last year.

“Most students will be able to receive funding this week; however, eligible students exclusively enrolled in classes that begin this week will receive funding later in the semester,” wrote Director of communications, Jennifer Wise, in an email to the George-Anne.

Students that are eligible to receive grants were alerted over the weekend via email, and no prior actions besides having filled out the 2020-2021 FASFA are required to claim the grant.

The amount awarded per student is determined by the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of each student, the same way that the Pell Grant is distributed. The university anticipates all grants to be distributed by the end of the spring semester.

Students can expect to receive grants starting at $290, and according to the guidelines of HEERF II students are to receive at least the same amount that they received under the CARES act last year.

In total the university received $36,537,745 from HEERF II, with $11,374,111 of that money allocated solely for student grants as required.

“The institution is preparing its plan to use the remaining HEERF II funding to manage the revenue losses associated with disruption due to COVID-19, funding for vaccine and testing requirements and stability in operations,” wrote Wise.