Washington, D.C. — Today, the Education Department posted application forms for institutions of higher education affected by hurricanes and wildfires to apply for and access $175 million in disaster aid. However, the forms retain the onerous two-step application process for emergency assistance that members of Congress and advocates called for the Department to abandon. Enrique Fernández-Toledo, director of Puerto Rico Relief and Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress, provided the following statement:
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was warned by a number of organizations that this unnecessarily burdensome process would be the difference between colleges and universities in Puerto Rico accessing much-needed emergency financial assistance or not. If Secretary DeVos were truly concerned about the victims and institutions in Puerto Rico, then she would not have required a two-step application process, she would have made the application forms available in Spanish, and she would have made proactive outreach efforts.
The fact that the Education Department ignored our feedback does not surprise us. Education Secretary DeVos has not been sensitive to the on-the-ground reality on the island from the beginning. Nonetheless, it is extremely disappointing that after so many pleas to provide Puerto Rico with more support, Secretary DeVos continues to fail to prioritize the island.
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