In March 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, an economic stimulus package designed to address the nationwide economic crisis created by the global COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to providing payments to individuals, business loans, and support to state and local governments, the CARES Act introduced the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) which provided grants to institutions, 50% of which was required to be spent on direct grants to students (student share) for their expenses related to the disruption of campus operations due to COVID-19. It also amended the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) program to provide federal funds for emergency financial aid grants for student expenses that arose as a result of the pandemic. In Fall 2020, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), NASPA--Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and MDRC, using generous grant funding, set out to evaluate these funds and how they affected students. Recommendations were based on results from data collected via a survey with higher education administrators and focus groups with institutional leaders, practitioners, and students. As highlighted throughout the report, respondents presented helpful and insightful perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the CARES Act emergency financial aid programs. After critically examining the various findings, NASPA identified five priority recommendations for institutions to consider. Implementation of these recommendations has the potential to help institutions further build and strengthen their emergency aid programs, which could ultimately result in increasing efficiency, improving the student experience, and fostering a culture evolution to meet the changing needs of students. [For the survey data and tables, see ED614106.]