Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund Report

Emergency Financial Aid Grants to Students

Click on the links below to download and view the HEERF Reports

Attachment A

The Ocean Corporation Policy regarding the Education Stabilization Fund through the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF)

Situation: The CARES Act provided funding to higher education institutions (aka HEERF) to assist students with expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular to the changes in academic program delivery necessitated by the situation.

Logic Behind the Policy: It is apparent that all of our active students at the point of the Ocean Corporation’s temporary transition to on-line education have been affected financially, emotionally, socially, and educationally both by the transition and by the situation. It is difficult to quantify the individual financial impact on each student without carefully analyzing each student’s individual family situation, potential employment losses, childcare expenses, etc. We believe it would be functionally impossible to create an algorithm that completely addressed all issues and allocated the available funds equitably in all circumstances. Further, the school was not provided sufficient funds to adequately address even a percentage of the costs, and thus providing sufficient funds to those with the greatest need (under whatever methodology we could create) would only serve to ensure that those with less need received no more than an insignificant amount of the available funds, if any.

Policy: Therefore, it is the policy of the Ocean Corporation that for the first portion of the HEERF funds, we will provide equal awards to all eligible students who were in attendance at the time The Ocean Corporation was forced to offer training online.

Revised: January 31, 2021