In the upcoming week, Humboldt State University is expected to communicate where the remaining $11 million from the second round of CARES funding will be allocated after receiving over 200 submissions from campus input.
HSU’s communications specialist, Grant Scott-Goforth, said that although the university planned to seek input through Feb. 26, the university is still finalizing the allocations and expects to announce them this week.
“The President’s administrative team is currently reviewing the input and working to prioritize allocations,” Scott-Goforth said.
The University obtained the input via individual submissions, as well as from various meetings, such as the University Senate, Associated Students, and the University Resources & Planning Committee.
Individual submissions were sent through a questionnaire on the University Budget website that posed the following question: What are the top three investments the University should make to successfully adapt to the impacts of COVID-19 and enhance the educational experience of our students?
In an open forum held by the URPC on March 5, James Woglom, an associate professor in the art department at HSU, opened the meeting by addressing all the people that are currently working on budget plans for the future of the university.
“We have 19 incredible people really informing our conversation and we’re also looking to expand that conversation,” Woglom said. “We’ve reached out since the fall to the CFA in thinking about trying to get a CFA representative on the URCP so that those perspectives can also be shared.”
The committee’s desire for CFA input comes as the CFA chapter at Humboldt State has put pressure on the administration in response to pandemic-related layoffs that the university deems necessary.
On March 10, the House passed the American Rescue Plan. The plan is a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that also includes nearly $40 billion for higher education. This would provide HSU with additional one-time resources on top of the remainder of unallocated funds from the second round of stimulus funding.
The CFA chapter at HSU has specifically mentioned that additional funding could be headed our way throughout this next academic year.
“The CSU is about to receive $800 million in COVID-19 stimulus money. Spend it on the people providing the coursework, the people most responsible for student success,” the CFA Faculty association commented on the CFA Humboldt Facebook post on March 12.
As HSU communicates the allocation of the remaining $11 million in funds from the second package this week, we are likely to see another round of stimulus funding come our way in the coming weeks.
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