The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $2.4 million to the State of Maine to reimburse Colby College for the cost of testing students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The $2,425,678 Public Assistance grant will go to the private liberal arts college in Waterville to cover the cost of contracting to administer 147,823 tests between August 2020 and February 2022. The college also contracted with technology services providers to assist managing test scheduling and results, symptom tracking, vaccination record reporting/storage, and management of administrative reporting tools.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Colby College with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Providing resources for our institutions of higher education to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to their success, and to our success as a nation.”
So far, FEMA has provided almost $158 million in Public Assistance grants to Maine to reimburse the state for pandemic-related expenses.