Our Process
Dominican sent the first round of Emergency Grant notification to eligible students between June 8 and June 19, 2020. Grants were issued to eligible students and checks were mailed.
For the second round of funding, Dominican accepted applications between June 29 and July 16, 2020. Recipients were notified via email shortly after the application closed and checks were mailed.
As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund provided emergency funds to higher education institutions to provide grants for students and to support institutional expenses related to COVID-19.
At least 50 percent of the funds received must be used to provide emergency grants for students who have incurred costs directly related to the disruption of moving to remote/distance learning due to COVID-19. Examples include, but are not limited to: housing, food, technology, course materials, child care, and healthcare needs.
On April 14, 2020, Dominican submitted the signed certification and agreement to receive this emergency funding. Under this agreement, the University will use at least 50 percent of the allocated funds to award emergency grants to students.
Dominican was allocated $1,244,783. At least $622,392 of that allocation will be spent as emergency grants to students.
Students must be Title IV (Federal) Financial Aid eligible and enrolled in courses as part of a Dominican program eligible for Federal Financial Aid as of the date Marin County was ordered to shelter-in-place (March 17, 2020).
The total number of Dominican students eligible to receive the Emergency Grant was 1,261.
As of March 31, 2021, the full amount for funds available for student emergency grants ($622,392) has been allocated to 1,219 students as follows:
- 13 students received $1,000 in grant funds
- 1 student received $990 in grant funds
- 51 students received $940 in grant funds
- 1 student received $912 in grant funds
- 126 students received $850 in grant funds
- 193 students received $750 in grant funds
- 290 students received $500 in grant funds
- 542 students received $300 in grant funds
- 1 student received $100 in grant funds
Some eligible students informed Dominican that they did not experience an expense due to the disruption caused by COVID-19 and thus did not receive funds.
In the first round of awarding, Dominican reviewed all students who had a valid FAFSA on file for the 2019-2020 academic year, were eligible for Title IV (Federal) financial aid, and were enrolled in courses as part of a Dominican program eligible for Federal financial aid as of March 17, 2020 (the date Marin County was ordered to Shelter-in-Place).
Per the request of the Secretary of Education, financial need was considered when determining the amount of the grant for each student. Emergency grants were distributed as follows:
- Undergraduate Students with a Student Aid Index (SAI) calculated by the FAFSA of less than 10,000 received $500
- Undergraduate Students with a Student Aid Index (SAI) calculated by the FAFSA of 10,000 or more received $300
- Graduate Students received $300
For the second round of awarding, Dominican developed an application where eligible students could apply for additional grant consideration if they had other expenses due to COVID-19 disruption. Students were notified via email the week of June 29, 2020, about the application and applications were accepted through July 16, 2020.
388 applications were received and of those, 385 students were eligible to receive additional funding. All 385 students were allocated additional funding. Application review took into account the amount requested, amount received from the first round of funding, Student Aid Index (SAI) from the FAFSA, date when the application was submitted, and with the goal in mind of helping as many students as possible with the limited remaining funds available.
Applications for additional Emergency Grant funding are closed. Applications have been reviewed and funding allocated. Checks were mailed to students starting Monday, August 3, 2020.
If you are experiencing financial challenges due to COVID-19 or other circumstances your family is facing, please reach out to the Office of Financial Aid as we may have other options available. You can send us an email explaining your circumstances or schedule an appointment.
We recognize and understand that many families have experienced a reduction in income or a loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are an Undergraduate student who will be attending Dominican in the 2020-21 academic year, please schedule an appointment with a member of the Financial Aid Team or send an email to finaid@dominican.edu explaining your circumstances.
Unfortunately, as Graduate students are not eligible for need-based financial assistance, no adjustments can be made to the information on the FAFSA that would change financial aid eligibility.
Prior to starting to notify students of these grants, inquiring students were told to make sure they filed the 2019-2020 FAFSA to confirm eligibility for Title IV aid and that additional information would be forthcoming.
On June 8, 2020, Dominican started the notification process. Students are notified in batches of the grant being forthcoming via email. View a sample copy of the email
On June 15, 2020, Dominican started issuing grant checks to students in batches. A letter was included with the check. View a sample copy of the letter
During the week of June 29, 2020, Dominican opened an application for students to apply for additional emergency grant funding. An email was sent to eligible students. View a sample copy of the email.
This website was originally released to meet the required first reporting deadline of May 22, 2020 (30 days after receipt of funds). It was then required to be updated at least every 45 days thereafter until new guidance was issued on August 31, 2020, stating it must be updated no later than 10 days after the end of each calendar quarter.
On June 22, 2020, the following updates were made:
- Confirmation that Round 1 awarding was complete
- Updating the number and amount of grants to date
On June 26, 2020, the following updates were made:
- Updating the number and amount of grants to date
- Adding information about the application
- Adding the email sent to students regarding the application
On July 30, 2020, the following updates were made:
- Updating the number and amount of grants to date
- Closing the application
- Adding the letter sent to students with the check for additional funding
On October 6, 2020, the following updates were made:
- Adjustments to tense from future/present to past
- Update to number of students who have received grants and amounts received
- Update to this section to meet new reporting timeline requirements
On January 8, 2021, the following updates were made:
- Update to number of student who have received grants and amounts received
- Update to this section to meet new reporting timeline requirements
On April 5, 2021, the following updates were made:
- Update to number of students who have received grants and amounts received
- Update to this section to meet new reporting timeline requirements
The remaining $622,391 of Dominican's allocation not marked for student emergency grants is classified as the Institutional Portion. These funds were used to cover a portion of the room, board, and fee refunds issued to students due to the disruption caused by COVID-19. Per reporting requirements our Final Expenditure Report is available online.
For more information, please visit: US Department of Education CARES Act: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.