The U.S. Department of Education announced $14 billion in grants to colleges and universities across the country, including nearly $8 million for Tulsa Community College. According to college administrators, though, TCC is unsure when the funding will arrive — or exactly how it can be used.
"There is no set date for when it will be released," TCC general counsel Mackenzie Wilfong said at a virtual meeting of the college's Board of Regents on Thursday. "We are waiting with anticipation on being provided more guidance."
Wilfong said that the $7.98 million in funding will be split evenly, with half going toward offsetting "campus operations," and half going toward "DOE-designated emergency student grants."
However, Wilfong said TCC had received "sparse guidance" on how exactly the DOE would be defining those grants.
Wilfong said that, according to the DOE, the amount of funding was decided based on an equation involving the percentage of the TCC student body who are eligible for need-based federal Pell grants, and the percentage of students whose instruction takes place entirely on-campus.
Wilfong said she does not know when the college will ultimately receive the funding, passed as part of the $2.2 trillion federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.
"TCC has done all of the prerequisites, including all of the paperwork," she said. "So now we wait."
