More colleges signal fall reopening as stimulus begins to flow

Deb Erdley | Friday, March 19, 2021 12:07 p.m.

Two more Pittsburgh-based universities — Carlow and Point Park — plan to return to full in-person operations this fall.

Friday’s announcements, the most recent in a series at local universities, came as the U.S. Department of Education announced an expanded list of areas new federal stimulus money can underwrite. Those guidelines suggest students and colleges struggling to recover from last spring’s shutdown and a year of limited operations are in line for assistance.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona signaled Friday colleges will be able to tap the new round of stimulus money for everything from reimbursing themselves for losses in revenue to unpaid debts that might have barred students from returning to class to childcare for students with children.

The American Recovery Act includes about $37 billion for public and private nonprofit colleges. Those funds, being allocated to colleges and universities largely on enrollment, are to be divided between grants to students and institutional needs.

“One of my first priorities is to ensure that institutions of higher education have the financial support and resources needed to support their students and mitigate the challenges brought on by the covid-19 emergency. Our latest actions will help campuses address those challenges,” Cardona said, announcing new guidelines for the federal grants.

An online calculator on the American Council on Education website estimated local schools might receive anywhere from $54 million at the University of Pittsburgh, the region’s largest university, to $4 million at Seton Hill, a much smaller university in Greensburg, in the new round of federal stimulus money.