Quinnipiac University will receive a $7,632,879 stimulus check from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II (HEERF II) program under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The grant can go toward either student financial aid or other institutional expenses such as payroll, lost revenue and technology costs. While that is the case for public and non-profit universities, proprietary universities must only designate their awards to student supports. Quinnipiac is listed as a private non-profit university.

The minimum amount the university needs to allocate for the student aid portion is $2,672,600. Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan said the university is developing a policy for it and that this plan will be shared with the community once it is finalized.

CRRSAA requires the university to prioritize awarding students with “exceptional needs” such as students who received Pell Grants.

The act also states that the maximum amount the university can use for the institutional expenses portion is $4,960,279.

“The university has not yet determined how it will apply the $4.9 million allocated for institutional expenses, but Quinnipiac has incurred nearly $40 million in a wide variety of COVID-related expenses since the start of the pandemic and this funding will help alleviate a portion of that financial burden,” Morgan said.

Quinnipiac’s finances have been hit hard in the past year. It was reported that the university experienced a $55 million loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic and enrollment decline. As a result, over two dozens of the employees were laid off while over 100 employees temporarily furloughed.

The university received $5,345,199 last year from the first HEERF program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. It mandated the university to allocate at least 50% of the funds, $2,672,599, toward student emergency financial aid.

While 4,251 students were eligible for the fund, 1,963 students received it with the total awarded amount of $2,625,737.30 as of Feb. 26.

Morgan did not respond to a question about how much money students received last year.

Quinnipiac spent all of the other half of the fund, which was allocated for institutional expenses, by September 2020.

It used $1,358,704 as reimbursements for tuition, housing, room and board and other fee refunds. It used $40,188 for campus safety and operations, which included purchases of COVID-19 protective equipment and costs related to sanitization of the facilities. It used $1,273,707 for technology related costs. All the expenses made the total of $2,672,599.