Dr. Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education
“First and foremost, I remember not only as an educator but as a parent where we were before I became Secretary and Biden took office,” said Cardona. “There was a lot of fear. More than half of our schools were closed. A year later, our schools are open again. Now, more than 90% of students are connected to schools both at the K-12 and higher education levels.”
Cardona stressed that the American Rescue Plan (ARP), including the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund III (HEERF) made that possible when it was signed into law last year. HEERF gave more than $39.6 billion in support to higher education institutions to serve students during the pandemic.
“Can you imagine the headlines today if that money didn’t go through?” asked Cardona. “We’d be talking about schools closing, about thousands of students not pursuing higher education.”
Cardona noted that ARP provided more than $10 billion to community colleges, more than $2.6 billion to Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and about $190 million to tribal colleges. In addition, more than $13 billion went to minority-serving institutions (MSIs), including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). In July 2021, ED announced another $3.2 billion in emergency grants under HEERF.
“When I visited a tribal college, I talked to a student who slept in his car for part of the pandemic,” said Cardona, referring to a September 2021 trip to Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Michigan. “But he is still a student. He didn’t drop out.”
In January 2022, after seeing such food and housing security among students, an additional $198 million in ARP funds went to primarily support community colleges and other high-need institutions to address students’ basic needs.
