The East Hall building at Duke University. | Photo Courtesy of Duke University
The East Hall building at Duke University. | Photo Courtesy of Duke University
Duke University has joined other top-tier universities, including Yale and Stanford, in rejecting to take federal money designated for colleges and universities related to COVID-19.
Duke was ruled eligible to apply for up to $6.7 million by the U.S. Department of Education under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
“We believe that accepting the funds, even as a pass-through entirely to students, would impose unacceptable legal and regulatory liabilities on Duke that could have a significant negative impact in the future," university spokesman Michael Schoenfeld told the News-Observer for its April 24 report.
When news of the grants was announced, the Trump administration criticized the elite universities for accepting the funds. Duke was among those higher education institutions that decided to refuse the money.
“We continue to maintain our commitment to supporting students in distress through institutional and donated funds,” Schoenfeld said, “and we will also continue to identify other sources of relief for the most vulnerable members of the Duke community."
In June 2019, Duke’s endowment was estimated to be $8.6 billion, the News & Observer reported. Harvard’s endowment is $40 billion. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s endowment is $5.1 billion. UNC-Chapel Hill is eligible to apply for $17 million in relief funds.
“As a public university, Carolina is extremely grateful to Congress for creating the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund to help universities with the unprecedented loss in revenue and unexpected costs due to COVID-19,” UNC-Chapel Hill spokesperson Joanne Peters Denny said in a statement emailed to the News & Observer.
Peters Denny told the News & Observer that UNC will use at least 50% of the funds for emergency grants given directly to students for financial hardships they are experiencing, which is required by law. She said UNC has experienced “significant” revenue losses and expenses related to the pandemic.
The federal funding will also allow UNC to offset some of those losses “so that we may continue our mission of teaching the next generation of leaders,” Peters Denny told the News & Observer.
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