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Biden administration ends Trump ban on pandemic aid for undocumented college students

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The Biden administration is reversing a Trump-era policy that barred undocumented college students and others from receiving federal relief grants meant to help pay for expenses like food, housing, and child care during the coronavirus pandemic.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Tuesday finalized a new regulation that allows colleges to distribute tens of billions in federal pandemic relief grants to all students, regardless of their immigration status or whether they qualify for federal student aid.

“The pandemic didn’t discriminate which students got Covid, so the final rule does allow for all students” to access the funding, Cardona told reporters. The goal, he said, was to “make sure that all students have an opportunity to have access to the funds to help them get back on track.”

The policy change was unveiled on Tuesday as the Education Department announced it would begin distributing $36 billion in federal relief funding for higher education, part of the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package that President Joe Biden signed in March. Colleges and universities will each receive an allocation of the funding under a formula spelled out in that law, based in part on the share of Pell grant recipients enrolled at each school.

Colleges must pass along roughly half of their Covid relief dollars directly to students in the form of emergency financial aid cash grants. But unlike with previous rounds of Covid relief funding, colleges will now be free to provide that money to any of their students. ...

 

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