Rutgers To Get $147 Million Under American Rescue Plan

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — New Jersey was given $10 billion under President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan and now this week, it was announced that Rutgers University will receive $147 million under the plan.

Half of that money has to go directly to Rutgers students, in the form of emergency-cash assistance grants to students in need, said Middlesex County's Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., a Democrat, (NJ-06). The funding for colleges was just announced this week by the U.S. Department of Education.

Pallone voted for the American Rescue Plan and said he supports the additional Rutgers funding.

Middlesex County community college, now called Middlesex College, will also receive $26 million under the American Rescue Plan.

At least half of the funding each college/university receives must be used in the form of emergency-cash assistance grants to students who are facing hunger, homelessness and other hardship due to the pandemic and economic fall-out, said Congressman Pallone.

A spokeswoman for Rutgers said that mirrors what they have been told.

"We have not received the official notice of the award of $147,821,278, but we have been notified that $74,182,727 ($74 million) of the allocation will be for emergency financial aid for students," said Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin Tuesday.

How Rutgers will use the remaining $73 million remains to be determined.

"We are assessing the needs, including in the next fiscal year, for uses of the institutional portion of the award," said Devlin.

"We are grateful to Congressman Pallone and all the members of the New Jersey delegation who supported this important COVID relief funding," she added.

Students should contact their college or university for more information about how they can apply for an emergency grant.

The American Rescue Plan, known as the second COVID stimulus, is the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package passed under President Biden in March of this year. It was a controversial and deeply partisan bill: Not one single Republican lawmaker in the U.S. House or Senate voted for the rescue package and that includes New Jersey's two Republican Congressmen, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ4) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ2).

But the second COVID stimulus bill was backed by nearly all Democratic lawmakers.

This is the same rescue plan that gave at least $1,400 stimulus payments to most U.S. taxpayers (many Americans got more than $1,400) and extended the unemployment benefits to September, plus gave an additional $300 per unemployment check.

In December 2020, President Trump signed the first COVID stimulus bill, the $900 billion package that included $600 checks.

As Patch has reported, the American Rescue Plan gave counties and towns across the United States and New Jersey billions of dollars in unprecedented new federal funding, all meant to stem financial losses from the coronavirus pandemic. In total, New Jersey was given $10 billion; this $147 million for Rutgers is part of that.

In total, the American Rescue Plan provides $36 billion for nearly 3,500 nonprofit colleges and universities across the U.S. The funding will help colleges and universities cope with the severe financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, said Pallone.

“The American Rescue Plan makes a historic investment that will secure the future of these valued institutions and provide struggling students with urgent relief that will allow them to stay on track and complete their education," said Congressman Pallone. "I'm proud that we were able to deliver this critical support for institutions of higher education, and I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for its relentless focus on defeating the pandemic and building back a better economy.”

The colleges and universities in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District that are receiving funding under the American Rescue Plan are:

• Brookdale Community College (Monmouth County's community college): $22,237,299
• Middlesex County College: $26,410,559
• Monmouth University: $13,024,725
• New Brunswick Theological Seminary: $65,523
• Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark campuses): $147,821,278

To read more about emergency education funding under the American Rescue Plan, click here.

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