Fact Sheet: 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. 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. Congress can do this by providing a separate pot of dollars that is directed exclusively to public institutions of higher education, instead of continuing the single program created in the CARES Act that provides funds for all institutions.