Ok back to my #RealCollege work.

Tonight (heck, every night right now) I’m pondering that amazing $6B+ investment the CARES Act made in emergency aid for college students.

That’s a first time ever investment, FWIW.

Let’s be honest, though. Students will only be helped if the dollars reach them in a caring way.

Colleges are totally stressed - faculty, staff, and admins alike.

The flexibility ED gave with these dollars is therefore so amazing...

And, the opportunity here to really help students - securing their basic needs and getting them focused on learning?

It’s incredible.

For opportunity to become reality institutions must maximize impact by moving *fast and equitably.*

Presidents and chancellors:

Can your team deliver on speed and equity to maximize impact with all you have going on?

It’s worth pondering.

Some things to consider...

(1) You are NOT required to use your aid office to deliver this money and it doesn’t count against Title IV aid.

Again: You are NOT required to use your aid office to deliver this money and it doesn’t count against Title IV aid.

(2) You’re actually *supposed* to care about those non-tuition expenses for once and *not* rely on “need” as assessed in your administrative data.

For real.

(3) You’d be wise to ration the money so it lasts til fall.

(4) You need to document who got what with a rationale for why for every student.

(5) You don’t have to limit this to students who file FAFSA!

To summarize:

The CARES emergency aid dollars are a miraculous opportunity to use an evidence-based approach to deliver cash transfers to students!

And that’s what gives me pause.

Because I know of only *one* entity that was built to do exactly this work— saving staff time and energy and keeping students enrolled.

@edquityapp

I’m so damn honored to be on the team. And heck, this is a mountain we *will* climb.