FEMA Awards Over $5.1 Million to Babson College for COVID Testing Costs

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will be sending more than $5.1 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reimburse Babson College for the cost of testing students, staff and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $5,120,936 Public Assistance grant will reimburse the private business school in Wellesley for the cost of purchasing at-home test kits and providing on-campus testing between July 2020 and June 2022, as well as other associated costs.

Using both its own employees and contracted labor, Babson opened and operating an on-campus testing center that administered 193,195 COVID-19 tests to students, faculty, staff, visitors and vendors.

The college also purchased and distributed 5,776 COVID-19 antigen rapid self-tests, and provided provide gloves, masks, face shields, gowns, fit test kits, thermometers, test tube labels, plexiglass, stanchions, sanitizing wipes, and hand sanitizer for its testing activities.

“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Babson College with these costs,” said FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich. “Reimbursing state, county, and municipal governments – as well as eligible non-profits and tribal entities – for the costs incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic is an important part of our nation’s ongoing recovery.”

FEMA’s Public Assistance program is an essential source of funding for states and communities recovering from a federally declared disaster or emergency.

So far, FEMA has provided more than $2.5 billion in Public Assistance grants to Massachusetts to reimburse the commonwealth for pandemic-related expenses.