University of Colorado Boulder completes distribution of $44 million in federal aid to students impacted by coronavirus pandemic

In a few months, Brayan Villegas Chavez will walk across the stage during the commencement ceremony at the University of Colorado Boulder. Villegas Chavez, 21, said he’s excited to start his life as a college graduate, a dream he worried wouldn’t come true just two years ago.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, his dad’s Denver restaurant shuttered as businesses and schools throughout the nation closed to stem the spread of the virus. Without his business, Taco Mex, Villegas Chavez’s dad was unable to help him pay for rent in Boulder. Not long after, Villegas Chavez received an email about federal aid available for CU Boulder students affected by the pandemic. He quickly applied. 

“If it weren’t for the aid, I would have probably had to drop out (of school) and work full time,” Villegas Chavez said. “That money really did help me pay for the rest of my rent.” The support paid for about four months of his rent, allowing him to stay in Boulder and continue his studies, Villegas Chavez said.

“I was really happy they offered it,” he said.

The aid Villegas Chavez received was part of $44 million CU Boulder was awarded from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economics Security Act. It first became available to students during the spring of 2020. All aid has since been allocated to Boulder students.

Ofelia Morales, associate director of financial aid at CU, said the funding has supported more than 14,000 Boulder students over the past two years. Typical awards ranged from $500 to $2,000 and helped students pay for technology needs, tuition, books, housing, food, mental health or counseling costs that exceeded campus services and child care costs necessary to complete classwork.

“In the beginning of the pandemic, students may have been in lease agreements, but then had to leave and went back home, so then they had all these extra expenses that no one would have accounted for, and we were helping students with laptops and Wi-Fi and making sure that students had the technology they needed to be successful,” she said.

The knowledge Morales gained while working with the HEERF money assisted her when it came to applying for and handling funds for those impacted by Marshall Fire, she said. During the pandemic, CU created an electronic application that allowed all students to apply for aid. It later adapted that framework to include students who had been impacted by the fire.

The university has delivered more than $358,000 of emergency funds to students impacted by the fire.

Morales said the university will continue to use everything it has learned over the past two years when assisting students experiencing emergency situations.

“We definitely saw a wide gamut of students’ needs, and it’s something we hope to learn a lot from as a campus to figure out how we can address those needs in the future,” she said.