COVID-19 and Higher Ed: Weekly Update
 March 23-27, 2020
The latest developments regarding the impact of COVID-19 on New England's colleges and universities, students, and families.
Updates from New England Institutions
Check out NEBHE's COVID-19 dashboard for complete data
  • Across New England, 203 institutions have switched to a distance learning modality.
  • 49 institutions have delayed their commencement ceremonies, 8 have cancelled them entirely, and 9 have planned to hold their commencement ceremonies online.
  • To date, 73 institutions in the region have announced that they will offer pro-rata room and board refunds and/or room and board credit to apply to a future semester.
Resource Spotlight
H.R. 748, CARES Act (Federal COVID-19 Stimulus Relief Bill)
  • Highlights:
  • $30.75 billion allocated to Education Stabilization Fund
  • 46.3% of that total allocation (or $13.95 billion) will go to Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund
  • 90% of the higher education fund (or $12.56 billion) will go to each HEI to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus by apportioning:
  • 75% according to relative share of FTE enrollment of Pell recipients who are not exclusively enrolled in distance education
  • 25% according to the relative share of FTE students who were not Pell recipients who are not exclusively enrolled in distance education

Read a more comprehensive NEBHE analysis of H.R. 748 as it pertains to higher education HERE .

Promising Practices
Colleges, Organizations Offer Emergency Aid to Students


Is your institution offering emergency aid to students through an existing fund, foundation, or community support? Let us know! Email us at   policy@nebhe.org .
Distance Learning, Compliance, and New England SARA
Institutions are deploying online course delivery at an unprecedented scale in response to COVID-19. However, the development of online programming is complex and triggers a number of considerations and potential challenges for students and institutions: Access to reliable internet connection and equipment, accessibility, academic support services, regulatory oversight and approvals, etc.
The U.S. Department of Education has shared information and resources in addition to its regulatory guidance allowing some flexibility to help address interruptions related to COVID-19. However, there are remaining considerations that should be accounted for in online course delivery regardless of temporary instructional measures. NEBHE's distance education page provides resources and information to support evolving considerations and conversations. Your comments, suggestions and requests are welcome: rstachowiak@nebhe.org
Compliance Consideration of the Week: Accessibility for Students with Disabilities

ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released guidance reminding educational providers of their obligations, and in light of the rapid deployment of online learning, to ensure that courses continue to be accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Considerations may extend to captioning video content or providing a transcript, creating and verifying PDFs for accessibility, or contemplating the user perspective as you revise course content and materials.
Click to view
U.S. ED's Office of Civil Rights
7-minute webinar
Further External Perspectives
WCET Frontiers: Keeping Accessibility in Mind During the COVID-19 Conversion of Courses, by Cyndi Rowland, WebAIM
Mapping Access: Accessible teaching in the time of COVID-19, by Aimi Hamraie
For more, visit NEBHE's COVID-19 Resource Page
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