Education

“It has been brought to our attention that federal work-study students are counted in some cases as employees for purposes of PPP. While the CARES Act defines the term ‘employee’ to include ‘individuals employed on a full-time, part-time, or other basis,’ congressional intent is to stabilize small businesses and non-profits in order to incentivize keeping employees on their employers’ payroll. This purpose is distinct from that of the federal work-study program, and including those students in the PPP employee count is not congressional intent,” the senators wrote. “Please use your statutory authority to ensure that institutions of higher education with less than 500 full time employees can use the resources Congress provided to them to weather the coronavirus pandemic. In our state, many of these institutions are faith-based colleges and universities, and they are vital to the Missouri economy.”

Today U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) announced legislation to prohibit universities from receiving Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds from the CARES Act if they have an endowment larger than $10 billion, unless they first spend some of their own money on coronavirus-related financial assistance for students. Under the proposal, universities with over $10 billion in endowments would have to spend 10 times the amount appropriated to them according to the formula in the CARES Act to be...

Senator Hawley said, “For decades, Americans have been told that you have to go to college to get a good job. But, in more and more places, college costs a fortune. And college degrees are no longer a guarantee of a good job. “American students and workers need more pathways into the middle class, more opportunities to get good work and build bright futures. And they shouldn’t have to further enrich colleges by taking on a mountain of debt or mortgage their lives in order to get a good-paying job.