Northwestern will distribute more than $15 million in federal aid to over 7,500 students for pandemic-related costs, according to a Tuesday news release.

Students are eligible for the fund if they fit into one of the following categories: currently enrolled undergraduate students who received need-based aid this academic year, Ph.D. students, DMA students or full-time MFA students.

Qualifying students will receive a one-time payment of $2,000, which they can use for costs related to COVID-19 including tuition, food, housing, health care and childcare. The University will send eligible students details regarding the distribution of the funds later this week, the release said.

The money comes from the federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds, which provides aid in response to the pandemic.

The University prioritized distributing funds to students most impacted by the pandemic, the release said. It also specified that the funds will not have an impact on student financial aid packages and are not taxable.

“The challenges facing our students during the pandemic have been substantial, and we are very proud of the resilience of our graduate community of scholars,” Kelly Mayo, dean of The Graduate School and associate provost for graduate education, said in the release. “We hope this financial assistance will help ease some of the pressures facing these advanced-degree students as they continue to make extraordinary progress along their academic journeys under the difficult circumstances wrought by the pandemic.”

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