LSCS Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Mott said the college system has been allotted $216 million in stimulus funds with $162 million planned to be distributed to students. So far, $70 million has been distributed.
"When I reported this last month, we had awarded $46 million," Mott said. "We dispersed $25 million this fall to students."
Mott said the stimulus funding and Pell grants, which go out through financial aid, have been awarded to a total of around 95,000 students across all of LSCS's campuses.
Based on information provided during the meeting, the two student demographics that received the most aid were Hispanic and white students, who received 42.6% and 28.1% respectively. Mott said the criteria to receive funding is not demographically based, but the amount received is tiered based on financial need.
Demographic information indicates that 40.2% of LSCS's students are Hispanic and 32.4% of the student body is white.
"The demographics reflect where that need may be," Mott said.
The presentation also reflected the number of students by campus who received funding, which ranged from LSC-Houston North having 2,523 students receiving funding to LSC-Cy-Fair having 29,646 receiving funding. Mott noted as the information was presented, it was not indicative of the percentage of students at each campus who have received stimulus funding, as around 80% of LSC-Houston North's students received funding.
Mott said the stimulus funding has been used by students to help pay for rent, living expenses, school supplies and classes.
LSCS Chancellor Stephen Head said the stimulus funding is anticipated to be extended for availability until May 2023. Head said he anticipates around 150,000 students to be awarded funding in addition to the Pell grants through financial aid.
"We are helping a lot of our students," Head said.
