Lindenwood will receive its first $2 million from The Higher Education Relief Fund II on Monday.

A total of 1,250 eligible Pell Grant students are expected to receive their disbursement for $2,000 by mid-next week.

Students eligible for the disbursement have the option to apply the funds directly to their Spring 2021 balance, but it is not required in order to receive funds. The funds will be processed through Bank Mobile.

The remaining money will be disbursed through a need-based application through enrollment management.

As far as institutional funds, the legislation and the money spent by Lindenwood due to COVID-19 is still being determined.  

The Higher Education Relief Fund II  was signed into law in late December 2020. An extra $21 billion was allocated to the fund in January 2021, according to a press release from the Department of Education. 

On the federal level, the CARES Act, released last spring, allocated $6.7 million dollars to Lindenwood– half of which was given back to students through Pell Grants and need-based applications.  

Rick Baniak, vice president of fiscal affairs and chief financial officer, said there were 1677 grants previously given to students, and each grant was about $2,000.  

There were 1,435 grants given to the students who were on Pell Grants. The remaining 242 grants were given to students who applied through a process with enrollment management, where the grants were distributed based on economic need.  

The other half of the money was used to reimburse some of the $5 million the university spent giving students refunds for housing from last spring due to COVID-19.  

Another $635,000 was given to Lindenwood from the state level. The money from the state level was used to help pay for the classroom OWL cameras, cleaning supplies, and hand sanitizer among other supplies.