Students at Missouri State could soon get a boost to their bank accounts.
MSU President Clif Smart wrote in a column Tuesday that later this week, his school will send $250 in federal stimulus money to most undergraduate, degree-seeking students with an expected family contribution of $12,000 or less.
Those exclusively enrolled in an online program prior to March 13 are not be eligible due to limitations on the stimulus money prescribed by Congress.
Ryan DeBoef, Smart’s chief of staff, said that means 5,812 students can expect payments, or a little more than a third of the number of degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled at the beginning of the school year.
Starting next Monday, MSU will also allow students with financial needs or hardships caused by the coronavirus to apply for grants of up to $1,000 to cover related expenses.
The deadline to file an application will be May 15.
If any money is left over, “we will determine an equitable method to distribute the remaining money to students,” Smart wrote.
Ozarks Technical Community College is making plans for similar payments, officials said this week.
The money for the payments comes from the federal CARES Act passed by Congress in March. Half of the money sent to colleges must be used for emergency relief for students.
The other half can be used to cover costs colleges incur dealing with the coronavirus, such the millions of dollars in housing and meal plan credits that Missouri State is refunding with the campus largely shut down for the spring semester.