HEERF III Award Programs

As a result of the passage of the American Rescue Plan (ARP), additional funding was allocated for the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.  This fund directs institutions of higher education to use no less than 50 percent of funds received to provide emergency financial aid grants to students who incurred “expenses related to the disruption of campus such as food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care expenses.”  The emergency relief funding that is to be directly distributed for Radford University students is $12,179,559.     

As of January 1, 2022, Radford University has $10,553,717 remaining in the HEERF III allocation for direct-to-student awards.  All funds will be exhausted and no future awards will be available to students.

As of February 28, 2022, Radford University is awarding all remaining HEERF III funds to enrolled students.  All students who are enrolled as of this date will receive a final HEERF payment based on the following schedule.

Payments will be processed to student accounts in the following order:

Students who received a HEERF award during the fall 2021 semester will be awarded first.  The award will be applied to their account as it was originally requested in the fall.

Students who did not receive HEERF funding in the fall 2021 semester will be emailed the week of February 28th about the option to have it applied to their student account and to set up direct deposit for award processing.  Students will have one week to respond to the email notification.  All responses must be submitted by March 11, 2022, at 11:59 PM.

After March 11, 2022, all unawarded students will have the award applied and then refunded.

Receipt of Funds

For students with direct deposit:

If you have direct deposit established with the Office of the Bursar, the payment will be deposited into the account on file.  Direct deposit will take 3-5 business days from the time the award is posted on your student account to be deposited in the account on file.

For students who do not have direct deposit:

If you will receive a mailed check, the check will be processed within 3-5 business days from the time the award is posted on your student account.  The check will be mailed using USPS and delivery times will vary based on the address you have on file with the University. 

Students who are issued a check will have 90 days to deposit or cash the check.  After 90 days, students will receive one written reminder and one phone call reminder before the check is canceled and the student is no longer eligible to receive the award.

The week of September 6, 2021, Radford University will notify all enrolled students of their ability to request financial assistance through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) as allocated through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund.  Students will receive email notifications on September 7, 2021, September, 17, 2021, and September 23, 2021 alerting them that they can complete the award acknowledgement.  Acknowledgements will be accepted through October 1, 2021.  Students who do not submit the acknowledgement prior to October 1, 2021 may not be considered for a HEERF award for fall semester.

All students, who meet eligibility requirements, will be considered for an award that may be paid directly to the student, or applied to institutional charges, at the student's request.  Students will be required to submit the HEERF Award Acknowledgement to receive financial assistance.

Student award amounts will be based on their individual unmet need.  Unmet need is determined using the following calculation:

Assigned Tuition & Fee Rates plus Room & Board Estimate of $10,330, less the Expected Family Contribution (EFC as determined by the FAFSA), less federal grant awards.  Following is an example of the calculation for an in-state as well as an out-of-state student.

Student requests will be reviewed starting Friday, September 10, 2021.  New student acknowledgements will be reviewed each week.  Students will be notified via email when their request has been reviewed.  This notification will be sent to the student's Radford University email address.  Awards will be posted by the Office of the Bursar and processed according to the information provided in the student submitted acknowledgement.  Please note that it may be 7-10 business days before you are notified that your award has been reviewed.

For all students who do not request to have their funds applied to institutional charges you should expect the following timeline:

For students with direct deposit:

If you have direct deposit established with the Office of the Bursar, the payment will be deposited into the account on file.  Direct deposit will take 3-5 business days from the time the award is posted on your student account to be deposited in the account on file.

For all students who request to have their funds applied to institutional charges:

Update as of September 15, 2021 -

Your award credit will be placed on your account and reflected in your overall balance due.

If you have outstanding payments due to the University for the fall semester, it is the student's responsibility to work with the Office of the Bursar to adjust any future payments.

If you do not have an outstanding balance for fall semester the funds will be refunded directly to the student.

Original award payment for students who request to have their funds applied to institutional charges:

If you do not have an outstanding balance for fall semester the credit will remain on your account until you have charges that it may be applied to.  This means that you can request to have this credit placed on your account to help with spring semester charges.

All students who request to have their funds applied to institutional charges and do not enroll for a future semester will have their funds refunded to them after census date for the spring 2022 semester.

Students who are issued a check will have 120 days to deposit or cash the check.  After 120 days students will receive one written reminder and one phone call reminder before the check is cancelled and the student is no longer eligible to receive the award.

Radford University will award in a manner to best address the program requirements and intent of the funding to ensure students receive the support needed in a fair, equitable, and expedient manner.  As of June 30, 2021 the award criteria are not yet defined.  When an awarding strategy has been defined all updates will be available on this website and emailed to eligible students.