US Department of Education Resources

The US Department of Education’s Strategic Plan 2014-2018 includes its commitment to Postsecondary Education as Goal 1: Postsecondary Education, Career and Technical Education, and Adult Education. Increase college access, affordability, quality, and completion by improving postsecondary education and lifelong learning opportunities for youths and adults. The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) of the US Department of Education works to strengthen the capacity of colleges and universities to promote reform, innovation, and improvement in postsecondary education, promote and expand access to postsecondary education and increase college completion rates for America’s students, and broaden global competencies that drive the economic success and competitiveness of our Nation.

Office of Post Secondary Education (OPE)

The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), Higher Education Programs (HEP), and HEP’s Institutional Service (IS) administers programs that broaden access to higher education and strengthen the capacity of colleges and universities. HEP grant projects are awarded primarily to institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations and agencies, and state agencies. HEP’s Institutional Service (IS) administers programs to improve academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability, and strengthen physical plants and endowments of institutions of higher education.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) is a unit of the Higher Education Programs within the Office of Post-secondary Education, U.S. Department of Education. FIPSE’s mandate is to “improve post-secondary educational opportunities” across a broad range of concerns. Through its various grant competitions, FIPSE seeks to support the implementation of innovative educational reform ideas, to evaluate how well they work, and to share the findings with the larger education community. FIPSE seeks to support the implementation of innovative educational reform ideas, to evaluate how well they work, and to share the findings with the larger education community.

FIPSE is selective and uses a peer review process to determine funding. In each of its competitive discretionary grant programs FIPSE provides “seed grants” serving as incentives for improvement and continuation. FIPSE competitive grant programs share a number of common characteristics:

  • Projects focus on widely felt issues and challenges in post-secondary education, rather than on special interest groups or prescribed solutions.
  • Projects are responsive to local initiatives, leaving to the applicants the tasks of identifying specific local problems and proposing solutions that have the potential for national influence.
  • Projects are comprehensive with respect to the variety of problems addressed and the range of institutions and learners served.
  • Projects are action-oriented and learner-centered, involving direct implementation of new ideas or approaches rather than basic research.
  • FIPSE’s project participants are encouraged to take risks to support new and unproven ideas as well as improvements to proven ideas.

Access to awarded grants/abstracts

Strengthening Institutions

The Strengthening Institutions Program, under Title III, Part A, is a program that helps eligible Institutions of Higher Education become self-sufficient and expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability of eligible institutions.

Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)

The Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Division provides grant funding under Title III and V to institutions of higher education designated as eligible to assist with strengthening institutional programs, facilities, and services to expand the educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans and other underrepresented populations.

Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (DHSI) – Title V, Part A

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics and Articulation (HSI STEM) – Title III, Part F

Supporting Veterans

The U.S. Department Education (ED) implements competitive grant programs that provide funding to colleges and nonprofit organizations to assist veterans in enrolling in and completing a program of post-secondary education. These programs provide a great opportunity for veterans to get personalized counseling and support to achieve success in higher education. Learn more below about how to utilize these programs and connect with programs near you.

  • The Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success Program (CEVSS) supports model programs to support veteran student success in post-secondary education by coordinating services to address the academic, financial, physical, and social needs of veteran students. CEVSS grantees establish on their campuses a single point of contact to coordinate, through a veteran student support team, comprehensive support services for veteran students. Services include counseling, tutoring, assistance with special admissions and transfer of credit from previous post-secondary education or experience, assistance with applying for financial aid and veterans benefits and admission into college. ED currently supports 13 CEVSS grants.
  • The Veterans Upward Bound Program (VUB) is designed to assist veterans in preparing for acceptance and success in a program of post-secondary education. The primary goal of the program is to increase the participation and completion rates of veterans in higher education. The program provides intensive services, including assessment and enhancement of basic skills through counseling, mentoring, tutoring and academic instruction in the core subject areas. Currently, there are 49 VUB grantees across the country serving nearly 6,600 veterans.

Promoting Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA)

The Promoting Post-baccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) Program, under Title V, Part B, provides grants to: (1) expand post-baccalaureate educational opportunities for, and improve the academic attainment of, Hispanic students; and (2) expand the post-baccalaureate academic offerings as well as enhance the program quality in the institutions of higher education that are educating the majority of Hispanic college students.

The Institute for Education Sciences/U.S. Department of Education

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. We are independent and non-partisan. Our mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public. Thomas W. Brock, commissioner of the National Center for Education Research, has been delegated the duties of IES director.

IES conducts six broad types of work that addresses school readiness and education from infancy through adulthood and includes special populations such as English Learners and students with disabilities. Explore the IES website to learn more about how IES serves the nation by providing education data and research. Here you’ll find education data sets, data tools, reports, educator’s practice guides, summaries of completed and in-progress research and evaluation projects, videos, infographics, and more.

Access Funded Grant: