Office of Postsecondary Education: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund-IHE/Institution 84.425F | ED GRANTS 042120 004

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 042120 004

The Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) IHE/Institution program (CFDA 84.425F) is a mandatory federal grant opportunity run by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, created under the CARES Act to help colleges and universities respond to the financial and operational disruption caused by COVID-19. The specific funding opportunity number is ED-GRANTS-042120-004, first released on April 21, 2020. This particular program code, 84.425F, refers to the institutional portion of HEERF under section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act, meaning funds are awarded to eligible public, state-controlled, and private nonprofit institutions of higher education to address institutional needs and costs tied to the pandemic. While HEERF also includes separate streams focused on student emergency aid and other categories of institutions, 84.425F is centered on institutional relief rather than being a direct-to-student application program.

A key administrative point in the notice is that HEERF funding was distributed based on formula allocations, and institutions had to transmit an application to receive their allocated funds. The Department set an initial deadline of August 1, 2020 for institutions that had not previously applied for funding under HEERF sections 18004(a)(1), 18004(a)(2), and 18004(a)(3). Later, an update published September 4, 2020 in the Federal Register reopened the application transmittal period for all eligible applicants through September 30, 2020, providing additional time for institutions that missed earlier windows to submit required materials. The notice also clarifies that, after the August 1 deadline, only certain institutions designated as "reserve schools" would be accepted on a later timeline (with an August 17 deadline referenced for that subset), and it includes a long list of those reserve institutions.

Although the opportunity being summarized is 84.425F, the reopened notice explicitly applied across multiple HEERF CFDA numbers, reflecting the different statutory buckets Congress created in the CARES Act. Those include 84.425E (the student aid portion of section 18004(a)(1)), 84.425F (the institutional portion of section 18004(a)(1)), and several targeted allocations under section 18004(a)(2) for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (84.425J), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (84.425K), Minority Serving Institutions (84.425L), and Strengthening Institutions Program recipients (84.425M). It also covered 84.425N, associated with the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) under section 18004(a)(3). In practice, this means the Department used the same reopening notice to address application timing for multiple related HEERF funding streams, even though each CFDA number has its own program focus and eligibility constraints.

Eligibility for this opportunity is tied to whether an institution appears in the Department’s HEERF formula allocation materials and meets the statutory and program requirements for the relevant section. The notice directs applicants to the Department’s CARES Act/HEERF webpage, especially the "Formula Allocations" information, to confirm whether they are eligible and what allocation amount is associated with them. The grant mechanism is institution-facing: students do not apply to the U.S. Department of Education for these funds. Instead, institutions receive funds and are responsible for designing their own processes, within federal rules, to distribute any student grants (for the student aid portion) and to manage the institutional portion for eligible COVID-related institutional costs.

For institutions needing help, the notice provides a direct federal contact pathway through the HEERF Call Center at (202) 377-3711 and the email address HEERF@ed.gov, and it identifies a Department contact (Beatriz Ceja) at the Department of Education in Washington, DC. The notice also ties the program to existing federal paperwork and reporting frameworks by referencing OMB control numbers 1801-0005, 1840-0842, and 1840-0843, signaling that applications and related submissions fall under approved information collection requirements.

In plain terms, 84.425F is part of the CARES Act emergency response for higher education: it is federal grant funding meant to help colleges and universities stay afloat and continue operating during the COVID-19 crisis, with application timing governed by Department notices and eligibility verified through the published HEERF allocation lists. Institutions apply to receive their formula-based allocation, manage compliance and reporting, and serve as the point of contact for students seeking emergency financial help, since students cannot submit a request directly to the Department for these funds.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Postsecondary Education: Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund-IHE/Institution 84.425F" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.425.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-04-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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