The 2020 CARES Act was passed by Congress in March as part of the initial COVID-19 relief fund. Funds passed in the CARES Act are assisting many schools in need during this pandemic such as Citrus College.
According to the Citrus College website financial aid page, the school did receive $7,429,141 in CARES Act funds and planned to use $3,714,708 emergency financial aid grants to eligible students from last March all the way into the end of this fall semester.
One of the ways this lump sum of money was allocated throughout Citrus was to provide technology grants for Chromebook laptops to ensure education for students who don’t have the luxury of a laptop or computer device at home.
“The school has purchased 1,000 Chromebooks from the CARES act and planned on distributing 500 in the fall and 500 in the spring,” said dean of students Maryann Tolano-Leveque.
Tolano-Leveque said that there was a much heavier demand in spring and summer but as of October 30th the school has approved and is ready to distribute over 250 laptops with a second distribution date for students starting on November 13th.
“In order to be eligible for the laptop you need to have financial aid needs and have to apply to FAFSA,” said Tolano-Leveque.“As well as the student must be in good academic standing with the school without money owed from previous semesters.”
Student leader and Board of Trustees member, Austin Riggs, says that most students at Citrus come from different backgrounds so the school needed to adapt and make sure these students without a way to learn at home were also reached.
“Even if we only reach a handful of students with the Chromebooks, I still believe this is beneficial to our campus,” said Riggs.
Riggs said this was only a portion of the money Citrus was granted and knows the board will decide on other improvements for the campus when students will be allowed in-person.
“I know this won’t fix all the problems here at school but there is much more we are trying to do,” said Riggs.
As of Oct. 7 2020, the school has now used $3,610,125 from the CARES Act for emergency financial aid grants to the students who were eligible, according to the Citrus financial aid page, only $1,274,583 remains from the original sum of over seven million for the campus.
