HCC to provide new round of pandemic relief money to students

HOLYOKE — More than 3,500 Holyoke Community College students are set to receive a holiday gift from the school: between $600 and $2,500 in coronavirus relief money.

Earlier this week, the college announced that it would be giving eligible students a total of $3.77 million in relief aid funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, better known as the CARES Act. The grants, which average around $1,000, are for students who meet financial and enrollment eligibility requirements. The cash grants are unrestricted, meaning students can use them however they want.

“HCC has received a total of about $10.6 million from federal and state allocations designated directly for student relief during the pandemic,” Narayan Sampath, the college’s vice president of administration and finance, said in a statement. “With the holidays around the corner, we wanted to provide some more relief to students who continue to face numerous challenges because of the pandemic.”

This is not the first time that HCC has provided CARES Act money to its students.

The federal money is earmarked for students to offset expenses they incurred when classes moved from in-person to remote, and this is now the fourth consecutive semester that the college has awarded the money.

Accepting the money will not reduce a student’s financial aid award, the college said.

HCC is not alone in providing that assistance to its students. Last month, for example, Springfield Technical Community College announced that it would distribute $4 million in emergency relief grants to 3,405 of its students.

Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.