June 11, 2020
NAICU Seeks Expansion of Student Worker Exemption for PPP Eligibility
In comments submitted to the Small Business Administration (SBA), NAICU, along with forty-two independent college state associations and NAICU Secretariat members, urged the SBA to exclude all student workers in the employee count for eligibility in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). NAICU also recommended that this exclusion extend to any other federal lending programs being developed that are based on employee count.
The SBA had previously ruled that Federal Work-Study (FWS) students, and students in similar state and locally-funded programs, may be removed from the employee count, but other student workers would have to be included.
Calling this ruling “too narrow,” NAICU’s comments highlighted that “institutions have far more students working on campus who are not funded by federal or governmental grants than there are FWS students. So while this will help some institutions, it does not solve the larger problem of including student workers in the eligibility requirements for institutions to participate in the PPP and will continue to keep most institutions with fewer than 500 employees ineligible for critically-needed funds.”
NAICU also asserted that institutions should not be punished for providing student educational work opportunities in addition to those provided through the FWS.
The SBA had previously ruled that Federal Work-Study (FWS) students, and students in similar state and locally-funded programs, may be removed from the employee count, but other student workers would have to be included.
Calling this ruling “too narrow,” NAICU’s comments highlighted that “institutions have far more students working on campus who are not funded by federal or governmental grants than there are FWS students. So while this will help some institutions, it does not solve the larger problem of including student workers in the eligibility requirements for institutions to participate in the PPP and will continue to keep most institutions with fewer than 500 employees ineligible for critically-needed funds.”
NAICU also asserted that institutions should not be punished for providing student educational work opportunities in addition to those provided through the FWS.
For more information, please contact:
Robert (Bo) Newsome