Improving the Formula for Federal Higher Education Coronavirus Funding

In March 2020, as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Congress authorized the largest one-year, direct investment in colleges since the Great Recession. Yet it’s still nowhere near enough. America’s public postsecondary education system will need at least $46 billion in additional stimulus funding to survive looming state budget cuts and other effects of the novel coronavirus. This estimate is based on state cuts to higher education during the Great Recession and accounts for how much worse this recession may be. This fact sheet summarizes policies that Congress can enact to make sure future higher education dollars are dispersed more equitably. In particular, this means prioritizing the interests of public colleges, which have fewer resources to draw on than private institutions and that serve a larger share of historically marginalized students.