Grant News

Congressionally directed spending (also known as community project funding or earmarks) are line items in the United States federal budget specifically requested by individual legislators. There was a 10-year moratorium on these appropriations, but that ran out in 2021. Proponents of congressionally directed spending argue that it creates a more transparent appropriation process and enables local jurisdictions to more directly request and receive funds for their specific needs. Others believe that congressionally directed spending is wasteful or corrupt. Regardless of how you feel about this type of funding, they are a part of the current federal funding landscape and should be considered carefully when looking for support for your project.

In this article, we will explore the fiscal year 2024 congressionally directed spending landscape. We will evaluate where the funds are going and what types of projects they are predominantly funding. We will also reflect on where we are in the fiscal year 2025 funding congressionally directed spending process.

Last month marked the start of the U.S. federal Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) new set of rules directing the majority of federal grantmaking to nonprofits; education institutions; state, local, or tribal government agencies; and others. These rules, colloquially known as the Uniform Guidance, were first established in December 2013. Originally a consolidation of several federal rulemaking circulars, the Uniform Guidance’s policies have been periodically adjusted over the last 20 years. The most recent of these updates took effect on October 1, 2024.

When browsing through Grants.gov, you find a grant perfectly aligned with what your organization is trying to accomplish. Say you work in a university's criminal justice program and want to research police practices. You find a seemingly perfect grant, but as you read the eligibility…" Only applicants that received an official invitation letter from NIJ are able and eligible to apply." This "invitation-only" status is a common frustration for grant seekers. So, how do you crack that elusive list and get your foot in the door?

For institutions of higher education, the National Science Foundation is a large source of federal funding, providing a quarter of the federal government’s budgetary support for colleges and universities. Many colleges and universities, K-12 schools, and other research institutions have not explored the plethora of programs offered by the NSF and may not even know where to begin to search for NSF opportunities.

For the past several years, institutes of higher education have been seeing a decline in student enrollment. The National Center for Education Statistics projects that undergraduate enrollment will decline by 9% between 2021 and 2031, continuing a trend that was also present in the previous decade (https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98). Diversifying where income is coming from can help many institutions continue to provide their offerings. Although it is not a possibility for every institution, thinking about transitioning your organization from an education-focused school to a more research-intensive entity can open additional opportunities. For example, research grant funding that goes to faculty researchers also typically includes an indirect cost component that is used to support facilities and administration expenses for the institution to provide necessary overhead for the researchers to conduct their work, thereby enabling your organization to support that work. We have seen many schools working towards this goal by building research capabilities.

The Grants to Reduce Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking on Campus Program (Campus Program) encourages institutions of higher education to develop and strengthen effective security and investigation strategies to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on campus, develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving such crimes on campus, and develop and strengthen prevention education and awareness programs.

Now is the time of year for education entities to evaluate their goals and plans for the upcoming year. Think about your plans to support your students, researchers, and the broader community, and look for alignment with any of the priorities described above. Although this is by no means an exhaustive list of the kinds of grant funding that will be available in the coming months, these trends will give you a sense of the types of programs that are likely to be most popular and where you may see absolute or competitive preference priorities for existing annual programs. Start to strategize for where you would like to focus your efforts in 2024 and get started!

School safety has been a primary concern for school districts over the past several years. In the wake of tragic events such as the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, K-12 school districts have made it a priority to improve the physical security of their school buildings. However, funding was not always readily available until the Stop School Violence Act of 2018. An important result of this act was the STOP School Violence Prevention Program, or SVPP, a federal grant program that provides K-12 school districts, state and local governments, and Tribes the financial means to improve the physical security of their schools through evidence-based school safety programs and technology. In fiscal year 2023, up to $73 million was available for potential applicants, with future funding available through 2028.

Computer Science for All is a bold initiative to empower all American students from kindergarten through high school to learn computer science and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need to be creators in the digital economy. A key goal of this program is to provide all U.S. students the opportunity to participate in computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) education in their schools at the preK-12 levels. CT refers to the thought processes involved in formulating problems and their solutions in such a way that the solutions can be effectively carried out by an information-processing agent (usually a computer).

The Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program is designed to provide access to education, training, and healthcare resources for rural Americans. The DLT program provides financial assistance to encourage and improve telemedicine and distance learning services in rural areas using telecommunications, computer networks, and related advanced technologies that students, teachers, medical professionals, and rural residents can use. Grants may fund telecommunications-enabled information, audio and video equipment, and related advanced technologies that extend educational and medical applications into rural areas. Grants are intended to benefit end users in rural areas, who are often not in the same location as the educational or health care service source.

Esports are hugely popular; current projections show that there will soon be 30 million monthly esports viewers. The National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) currently lists nearly 200 colleges and universities with varsity esports programs, and many more schools have club teams or curricular esports programs. K-12 organizations are increasingly getting involved with esports as well. 

State grants for higher education are an important source of funding for colleges and universities to provide financial assistance to students pursuing post-secondary education. In addition to grants for students, state grant programs may also provide institutions with funding to support programs, initiatives, and research. In this article, we will explore the state grants available for higher education institutions to apply for.

Institutes of higher education have a wide variety of grant programs available to support efforts on campus. Many different federal, state, and foundation funding sources focus either specifically on higher education or fund higher education projects as part of their larger grant funding priorities. Broadly speaking, this funding for higher education predominantly falls within three categories: student learning outcomes, workforce development, and faculty research. These major types of funding programs have remained relatively consistent over the last few decades. However, within these categories, specific funding priorities tend to shift due to political and cultural priorities. Read on for a deep dive into five of the current major funding trends in higher education.

With the passing of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, the US Department of Education was allocated approximately 83.5 billion: an increase of $3.4 billion from FY22. Similarly, to FY22, Congress opted to allocate additional monies to many well-known programs housed under the Department of Education, instead of creating new funding programs.

Approximately 12.3 million students across the US are enrolled in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. CTE programs vary by institution, but the overarching purpose is to provide students with the academic and technical skills needed to succeed in an emerging career field. The Department of Education established a list of 16 career fields, referred to as career clusters, representing up to 79 different career pathways. These different pathways allow students to explore a career cluster of interest while also learning employability skills that complement their academic studies. CTE evolved from vocational education, which focused on an isolated elective with specific job training associated, to be more academically rigorous and integrated within other programs of study in comprehensive high schools, technical centers, and community colleges. Read on for a description of the common elements that make CTE programs successful, a high level overview of the funding landscape, and to learn how CTE programs function within different institutional settings.

ELIGIBILITY: The eligible lead applicant must be a community college that is a public institution of higher education as defined in Section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act and whose most common degree awarded is an associate degree.