He asserts this program, intended for COVID-19 relief, became a "slush fund" distributing billions to non-citizens from Europe, Africa, and South America, while American students faced inflation and lockdowns. Mannarino cites $7.9 billion disbursed to students in 2022 alone and an overall program allocation of $70 billion, emphasizing checks sent abroad as "insane" prioritization over U.S. citizens.
One survey found, significant percentages of American born college students (around 30-60%) have considered dropping out due to financial hardship, with 19% actually leaving, as costs, living expenses, and emergency needs (like needing $500) push many to quit or stop out, impacting nearly every demographic.
The HEERF, enacted through the CARES Act (2020), CRRSAA (2021), and ARP (2021), provided approximately $76 billion total to higher education institutions—$14 billion from CARES (HEERF I), $22.7 billion from CRRSAA (HEERF II), and $39.6 billion from ARP (HEERF III).
Institutions were required to allocate at least half of HEERF III funds to emergency student grants for costs like food, housing, and technology disrupted by the pandemic.
Under HEERF I, grants were limited to Title IV-eligible students (U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens), but HEERF II and III expanded eligibility to all enrolled students, including international and undocumented ones, regardless of citizenship.
The Department of Education explicitly allowed grants to international students, with no prohibition on mailing to overseas addresses.
Guidance even permitted funds for students studying abroad if enrolled, which could apply to international students who returned home during campus closures but continued remotely.
Mannarino's evidence includes photos of a $2,000 check from Kean University (NJ) dated March 2022, addressed to a recipient in Spain, labeled as "Student Ref - Regular."
He claims thousands such checks were sent, but provides no aggregate data. Official reports show examples like Dunwoody College awarding $2,000 each to five international students (total $10,000), and William Paterson University (NJ) granting $300–$1,800 per student.
However, no comprehensive statistics track HEERF funds specifically to foreign students, let alone billions as implied. Total student grants across HEERF likely exceeded $36 billion, but international students represent only about 5% of U.S. enrollment (around 1 million pre-COVID), suggesting their share was far less than "billions."
While Mannarino labels this "fraud," U.S. Department of Education OIG audits focus on compliance issues like improper institutional spending, not widespread abuse in student grants to foreigners.
Substantiated evidence of illegal activity remains absent—it's more a critique of lax guidelines than proven wrongdoing. This raises questions about equity in relief programs, especially as American students indeed struggled, but the ARP's broad eligibility was designed for institutional flexibility.
The final vote for the American Rescue Plan (H.R. 1319) was in the House of Representatives on March 10, 2021, passing by a 220-211 vote, after the Senate had passed its amended version earlier that month (March 6, 50-49 vote). President Biden signed it into law the next day, March 11, 2021, enacting the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package.
- House (Final): 220 (Yea) - 211 (Nay) on March 10, 2021.
- Senate (Initial Passage): 50 (Yea) - 49 (Nay) on March 6, 2021, with all Democrats voting yes and all Republicans voting no.
