SCHUMER SECURES OVER $2.6 BILLION FOR NEW YORK’S COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND STUDENTS IN LATEST COVID RELIEF PACKAGE

Some NY Higher Ed Institutions Have Been Forced To Eliminate Majors & Departments, Pause Admissions, And Cut Staff To Make Ends Meet Throughout Ongoing Economic Crisis

Schumer Has Been Ahead Of The Curve In Advocating – And Delivering – For Higher Ed Throughout Pandemic; Brings Fed Assistance To Campuses In American Relief Plan

Schumer To NY Colleges: More Help Is On The Way To Get FULLY Back To School & Back To Business

Following steadfast support for New York’s colleges and universities throughout the pandemic, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced that the recently-signed American Rescue Plan includes an estimated $2.6 billion for New York’s public, private, and proprietary institutions of higher education.

Schumer said that public and non-profit schools will use half of their award on emergency financial aid grants to students to help them with college costs and basic needs like housing, food, and healthcare. The other half of the funds will allow institutions to provide additional student support activities, and to cover a variety of institutional costs, including lost revenue, reimbursement for expenses already incurred, technology costs associated with a transition to distance education, faculty and staff trainings, and payroll. Proprietary schools must use their awards exclusively to provide financial aid grants to students.

“As New York’s colleges, universities, and students face over a year of unprecedented hurdles, they do so at a steep cost that it is our responsibility to address and overcome. In prioritizing the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff, New York’s higher education institutions have ripped massive holes in their budgets and are now facing down financial devastation – and we simply can’t let that happen,” said Senator Schumer. “As Majority Leader, I was proud to make funding for New York’s higher education institutions and students a top priority, and the American Rescue Plan will deliver this much needed $2.6 billion in assistance to help our world-class institutions through the crisis, get students safely back to classes, and get campuses across the state back to ‘normal’.”

This funding announced today is in addition to the $2.4 billion Schumer secured for New York’s institutions of higher education in the past COVID relief bills. In total, Schumer has secured over $5 billion for New York’s colleges and universities in the past year.

Estimated breakdown by region below and school-by-school breakdown here.

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