ED Adds New HEERF III Quarterly Reporting Requirement
10/01/2021
In a third update of its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document originally issued in May for the third tranche of Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF III), the Department of Education has provided additional quarterly reporting guidance, with new directions institutions must follow by October 10.
In an expanded section of question 36, ED addresses new institutional public reporting formatting rules that are effective for the institutional report for the quarter ending September 30, 2021. Institutions must comply with all quarterly reporting requirements 10 days after the calendar quarter ends (so October 10, January 10, April 10, July 10). There are no changes to student fund reporting requirements.
A new digital PDF template is available on the ED website with input boxes in chart form for all HEERF program awards (I, II, and III), under sections (a)(1), (a)(2), and (a)(3), and with related award numbers per Grant Award notification agreements, as applicable. The substance of the form has not changed; rather, ED is requiring that amounts spent for each calendar quarter (not cumulative) from all possible funding sources be digitally inputted on the reporting template. When the quarterly form is complete, it must be saved as a PDF with a prescribed naming convention that includes the institution’s OPEID number, report name, and applicable quarter-end date.
Institutions are required to post the digital form, using the naming convention, on their website. ED will no longer consider scanned forms, pictorial captures, word documents, hand-written forms, and so forth acceptable. Institutions must also refrain from adding additional materials to the uploaded form.
Instructions are included on the digital reporting form and information concerning OPEID numbers is provided in the FAQ. Institutions are encouraged, but not required, to submit quarterly reports (the digital institutional template and the student quarterly information) to ED by emailing those reports as PDF attachments to HEERFreporting@ed.gov.
