Funding Opportunities: Current OPE Grant Competitions and Closing Dates

• FIPSE Special Focus Competition: Innovative Strategies in Community Colleges for Working Adults and Displaced Workers - application deadline: August 4, 2009.
• FIPSE Special Focus Competition: Graduate Programs at Institutions of Higher Education Serving Hispanic Americans - application deadline: August 3, 2009.
• FIPSE Special Focus Competition: College Course Materials Rental Initiative - application deadline: August 3, 2009.
• Erma Byrd Scholarship Program - application deadline: July 31, 2009.
• Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program - application deadline: July 30, 2009.
• Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA) Program - application deadline: July 20, 2009
• United States-Russia Program: Improving Research and Educational Activities in Higher Education - application deadline: July 7, 2009.

OPE News

• Accrediting Agencies' Compliance with the Secretary's Criteria for Recognition as modified by the Higher Education Opportunity Act: On June 9, 2009, the Department issued a Dear Colleague Letter to elicit information from currently recognized accrediting agencies to allow the Accreditation and State Liaison (ASL) staff to assess agencies’ compliance with the Secretary’s Criteria for Recognition in light of new provisions in the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA) (Public Law 110-315).

• Negotiated Rulemaking Summer/Fall 2009: On May 26, 2009, the Department published a notice in the Federal Register announcing its intention to establish negotiated rulemaking committees that will meet in the summer and fall of 2009. The Notice also announced three public meetings where interested parties may suggest issues that should be considered for action by the negotiating committees. The Department will also be conducting forums after each of the three hearings to discuss: (1) how changes to the Department’s financial aid communications and processes (including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) could improve college planning, preparation and access; and (2) how best to leverage federal postsecondary programs to foster student educational persistence and degree attainment.

• On August 14, 2008 the Higher Education Opportunity Act was enacted into law. This law reauthorizes and extends the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). The HEA provides the authorizing legislation for most of the programs administered by OPE, as well as for the Federal Student Aid Programs.

• On September 8, 2008, the Department published in the Federal Register a Notice announcing its intention to establish negotiated rulemaking committees to implement certain parts of the Higher Education Opportunity Act. The Notice also announced six public meetings where interested parties may suggest issues that should be considered for action by the negotiating committees.

• Academic Competitiveness Grants (ACG) - Recognized State Rigorous Secondary School Programs of Study:

  • For 2009 Graduates
  • For 2008 Graduates
  • For 2007 Graduates
  • For 2005 and 2006 Graduates

• The Secretary's Fifth Annual Report on Teacher Quality: A Highly Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom

  PDF (1.6 MB) | MS Word (2.6 MB)

• OPE Congressional Testimony and Announcements

• Postsecondary Educational Institutions and Programs Accredited by Accrediting Agencies and State Approval Agencies Recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education: This database lists approximately 6,900 postsecondary educational institutions and programs, each of which is accredited by an accrediting agency or state approval agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education as a "reliable authority as to the quality of postsecondary education" within the meaning of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

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