Conley had been under pressure for weeks to resign from his elected board seat. But he had insisted that he would stay on the board through the end of his term in December, though he would drop his re-election bid.

He had said that he would resign if the Department of Education sent a letter explicitly stating that it would cut off federal aid if he did not resign by a certain date. He had said he didn’t believe college officials that the federal government would actually withhold funding, especially student aid.

College officials have said Metro already lost $60,000 in National Endowment for the Arts funding and could lose another $40,000.

More grants were at risk, including $717,177 in federal Perkins grants channeled through the State of Nebraska. That money supports career and technical programs, high school career academies, disability support services and single-parent support programming, according to Metro.

The Perkins application deadline was Aug. 1. The application required Metro to assure that no person prohibited from participating in federal contracting is involved in college leadership — an assurance that Metro couldn’t give with Conley still on its board.