CECU Daily Update

COVID-19 Resources & Webinars
On March 13, 2020, CECU launched an information webpage for institutions responding to the Coronavirus pandemic. CECU’s Coronavirus webpage includes a multitude of helpful resources to assist higher education leaders understand the various legal and operational implications of COVID-19, including temporarily closing a campus or adapting courses to online learning.

View all past COVID-19 response webinars here.

Guide for the Distribution of the Student and Institutional Portions of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund *Updated May 5, 2020*
In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the proprietary school sector has a unique opportunity. The federal government has included our schools in the Emergency Stabilization Fund for institutions of higher education authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”). Starting the week of April 13, 2020, institutions are provided the opportunity to direct critical Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (“HEERF”) grants to those eligible students most impacted by the pandemic. This guide, developed with the assistance of sector leaders, supports institutions in understanding what they should know regarding the student and institutional portions of the HEERF, provides example formulas for the distribution of emergency financial aid grants to students, includes a sample grant application form, and lists general principles institutions should consider. This guide will be updated regularly based on ongoing stakeholder feedback and federal updates, so institutions are encouraged to check back often.

View the guide here.

Upcoming Webinars
Reboot: Getting Your Marketing Ready for the Restart.
Wednesday, May 6 | 2:00PM ET
Presenters:
Gregory Gragg, CEO and Chairman of Gragg Advertising
Darryl Mattox, President of Gragg Advertising
Lisa Olmedo, VP of Business Development at Gragg Advertising
If you haven’t outlined a plan to reboot your marketing, you are behind the curve. The time to start planning and launching recruitment campaigns is upon us.
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How to ensure your online courses are demonstrating accountability, tracking and outcomes
Tuesday, May 12 | 2:00PM ET
Presenters: Bellus Academy & Coursekey
Not only are schools now forced to move their programs entirely online, but official guidelines from the Department of Education and accreditors are constantly changing in response to the pandemic. Join us to learn how Bellus Academy made the move to online courses quickly and seamlessly by taking a compliance-focused approach. Now, they can focus on quality content delivery and student support knowing that their system is tracking the appropriate data to ensure they stay in compliance through shifting guidelines.

CECU Update
Yesterday, the Department of Education’s Inspector General announced their plans for monitoring and auditing how the Department handles the funds appropriated to the Department through the CARES Act to meet education’s needs as a result of the Coronavirus. The Inspector General said they will look at how colleges are using their entire allocation of stimulus funding and particularly the $6.28 billion they must provide to students in the for of direct grants for expenses like food and housing. There is an obvious word of advice: Distribute these funds in ways appropriate for audits by either the Department’s Inspector General or the General Accounting Office – both of which have now announced plans to do so.
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CARES Act News
ED’s Internal Watchdog Releases Plan to Oversee Billions in COVID-19 Relief Funding – NASFAA
The Department of Education’s (ED) internal watchdog publicly released a plan Tuesday detailing how it will provide oversight as ED allocates more than $30 billion it was tasked with disbursing under the federal COVID-19 relief package.

‘I’m Bewildered’: For Tiny Colleges, Federal Covid-19 Stimulus Is a Windfall – The Chronicle of Higher Education
Tom Kluding laughed when he was told by The Chronicle that his small adult-education school, the Pioneer Career and Technology Center, was eligible to receive $500,000 in federal coronavirus relief. He didn’t believe it.

America’s Colleges & Universities Awarded $12.5 Billion In Coronavirus Bailout – Who Can Get It And How Much – Forbes
We scoured the backend of the U.S. Department of Education website and found the full database: 5,137 colleges and universities that were awarded $12.5 billion in coronavirus relief. None of it has to be paid back.

Coronavirus Education News
Higher Ed Needs a Long-Term Plan for Virtual Learning – HBR
More than 1.6 billion students have been affected, representing over 91% of all students in the world. Unsurprisingly, demand for online learning has skyrocketed. In the last 30 days, there were 10.3 million enrollments in courses on Coursera, up 644% from the same period last year.

Will Lawsuits Help College Students Get Coronavirus Refunds? – Forbes
Hoping a lawsuit could push their schools to refund some of their spring tuition, they got in touch with the Anastopoulo Law Firm in Charleston, South Carolina, which files a lot of personal injury suits for plaintiffs.

9 Next Steps to Make Online Education More Engaging – Campus Technology
Video lectures may have worked as a stop-gap measure in the emergency move to online learning, but they just don’t cut it for the long term. Here are nine ways to bring distance education courses to the next level.

The ‘Public’ in Public College Could Be Endangered – The New York Times
Since the Great Recession, states have taken drastically different approaches to funding colleges. The pandemic poses an even bigger challenge.

Additional Coronavirus Coverage - Updated Daily
6 Ways College Might Look Different In The Fall – NPR; Lowered Expectations, Dropped Assignments Dominated Switch to Online Courses – Campus Technology; Preparing to re-open this fall – Community College Daily; How Top Colleges Are (Not) Using CARES Student Funding – Forbes.

Education Politics and Policy
Vehicles for Higher Education Act Rewrite Narrow as Congress Develops More Aid Packages – NASFAA
The novel coronavirus pandemic is forcing Congress to sort through what its daily operations will look like as lawmakers continue to assess the health and safety risks around in-person negotiations, further limiting the legislative route a rewrite of the Higher Education Act (HEA) could take.

Betsy DeVos to issue Title IX rules on campus sexual assault this week – The Washington Post
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plans to release as early as Wednesday her much-anticipated final rules governing how schools must investigate sexual assault allegations, bolstering the rights of the accused, people familiar with the matter said.

Reports
Half of part-time students leave college without graduating, report finds
Only about one-third of part-time students who entered college in 2013 had graduated after six years. That’s compared to about two-thirds of full-time students who graduated and one-quarter who were no longer enrolled after six years.