PKG00263104-instructions.docx

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Postsecondary Education Washington, DC 20202 Fiscal Year 2020

APPLICATION FOR GRANTS

Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity Grants Program

CFDA NUMBER: 84.425P

Form Approved OMB No. 1840-0848, Expiration Date: 02/28/2021

DATED MATERIAL – OPEN IMMEDIATELY

CLOSING DATE: October 20, 2020

Table of Contents

ii

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in applying for a new grant under the fiscal year (FY) 2020 Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (IREPO) Grants Program. This letter highlights items in the application package that will be important to you in applying for a grant under this program. Please review the entire application package carefully before preparing and submitting your application.

The purpose of the IREPO Grants, offered under section 18004(a)(3) of the CARES Act and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), is to provide financial support to institutions of higher education (IHEs) with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus to enable them to resume operations, serve the needs of students, reduce disease transmission, and develop more resilient instructional delivery models, such as distance learning, to continue educating students who cannot or choose not to attend classroom-based instruction due to coronavirus. The eligible applicant is an IHE as defined in section 101 of the HEA, or a consortium of such IHEs.

This program contains one absolute priority. In addition, there are three competitive preference priorities that allow for up to three points to be awarded for each of two competitive priorities and up to ten points for one competitive priority, for a cumulative total of up to sixteen competitive preference points.

Therefore, to receive a grant under the IREPO grant program, an institution of higher education must respond to the absolute priority by demonstrating the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus and showing how this grant will enable them to resume operations, serve the needs of students, reduce disease transmission, and/or implement safe and effective instructional delivery models, that will enable safe in-person learning and expand remote learning opportunities when necessary.

We highly encourage applicants to notify us of their intent to apply. To do so, please email Karen Epps at Karen.Epps@ed.gov with the subject line “Intent to Apply.” Include the applicant's name and a contact person’s name and email address. Applicants that do not submit a notice of intent to apply may still apply for funding; applicants that do submit a notice of intent to apply are not bound to apply or bound by the information provided. The Department will be able to review grant applications more efficiently if we know the approximate number of applicants that intend to apply. Therefore, we strongly encourage each potential applicant to notify us of their intent to apply.

In addition to the absolute priority and three competitive priorities, there are three selection criteria that applicants must address to be competitive.

For additional information on the selection criteria and the priorities, refer to the Federal Register Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) for New Awards for FY 2020, which is included in this application package.

Applications for FY 2020 grants under the IREPO Program must be submitted electronically using Grants.gov at: http://www.grants.gov. Applicants are required to follow the Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2019 (84 FR 3768), and available at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-02-13/pdf/2019-02206.pdf, which contain requirements and information on how to submit an application.

The NIA published in the Federal Register is the official document describing the requirements for submitting an IREPO grant application. You should not rely upon any information that is inconsistent with the guidance contained in the official document. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Karen Epps at Karen.Epps@ed.gov.

We encourage applicants to review the “Competition Highlights” found in this application package for an overview of important items.

I appreciate your interest in the IREPO Program and look forward to receiving your application.

Sincerely, /s/ Diane Auer Jones Principal Deputy Under Secretary Delegated to Perform the Duties of Under Secretary

Competition Highlights

1. Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity Grants Program grant applications for FY 2020 must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov at: http://www.grants.gov. Applicants are required to follow the Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2019 (84 FR 3768), and available at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-02-13/pdf/2019-02206.pdf, which contain requirements and information on how to submit an application.

2. It is important to know that Grants.gov does not allow applicants to “un-submit” applications. Therefore, if you discover that changes or additions are needed once your application has been accepted and validated by the Department, you must “re-submit” the entire application. You should know that if the Department receives duplicate applications, we will accept and process the application with the latest “date/time received” validation.

3. Grants under this competition will be awarded on a competitive basis. For this competition, an eligible institution of higher education may submit one grant application. For this program, we define institutions with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus as those that--

(1) Had a student population enrolled at the beginning of the term that included March 13, 2020, or, if that date occurred during a break between terms, at the beginning of the term immediately prior to the break which included March 13, 2020, in which more than 30 percent of full-time students received a Pell Grant; and/or

(2) Were underserved by other CARES Act programs either because--

(a) The institution did not receive a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program established by the CARES Act; and/or

(b) The institution serves large numbers of part-time students and, as such, received a reduced per-student allocation under section 18004(a)(1) of the CARES Act relative to institutions of the same or similar total enrollment that serve mostly full-time students; and

(c) Had other unmet needs due to the novel coronavirus, as described by the institution in its application.

4. Under the Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity Grants Program, the Department will offer grants under section 18004(a)(3) of the CARES Act and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), to provide financial support to institutions of higher education (IHEs) with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus to enable them to resume operations, serve the needs of students, reduce disease transmission, and develop more resilient instructional delivery models, such as distance learning, to continue educating students who cannot or choose not to attend classroom-based instruction due to coronavirus.

5. We will not make an award exceeding the maximum allowable amount for a single budget period of 12 months. (See Notice Inviting Applications for information on the maximum allowable amount.)

6. There is an absolute priority for this competition. An applicant must respond to the absolute priority to be eligible to be reviewed. (See Notice Inviting Applications for information regarding the absolute priority.)

7. There are three competitive preference priorities that allow for up to three points to be awarded for each of two competitive priorities and up to ten points for one competitive priority, for a cumulative total of up to sixteen competitive preference points. Points are awarded on the quality of the response to the priority.

8. All applicants are encouraged to adhere to the page limit for the Project Narrative portion of the application. We recommend that you limit the section of the narrative that addresses the selection criteria and the priorities to no more than 25 pages.

9. Applicants must complete a supporting budget narrative for each line item on the ED-524 form. The budget narrative does not count against your page count.

10. Applicants are required to address how each proposed performance measure would accurately measure the performance of the project and how the proposed performance measures would be consistent with the performance measures established for this program. Applicants must provide the information noted in this application packet and found in the Notice Inviting Applications under the Performance Measures section.

11. This application package contains detailed instructions for every required component of your application. It also includes an Application Checklist for your convenience. Note: If all required documents are not submitted with your application, it may be deemed ineligible.

12. Applicants are required to submit a Project Abstract. The Project Abstract is limited to a one-page single-spaced document. The abstract must include the name of the institution, city and description of the proposed project. The abstract must be uploaded to the “ED Abstract Form” in the Grants.gov system as a .pdf document.

13. Lastly, applicants are reminded that the notice published in the Federal Register is the official document. You should not rely upon any information that is inconsistent with the guidance contained within the official document.

***Updated 02/21/2019***

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ FIRST

U.S. Department of Education Grants.gov Submission Procedures and Tips for Applicants

To facilitate your use of Grants.gov, this document includes important submission procedures you need to be aware of to ensure your application is received in a timely manner and accepted by the Department of Education.

Browser Support

The latest versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE), Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari are supported for use with Grants.gov. However, these web browsers undergo frequent changes and updates, so we recommend you have the latest version when using Grants.gov. Legacy versions of these web browsers may be functional, but you may experience issues.

For additional information or updates, please see the Grants.gov Browser information in the Applicant FAQs: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-faqs.html#browser.

ATTENTION – Workspace, Adobe Forms and PDF Files

Grants.gov applicants can apply online using Workspace. Workspace is a shared, online environment where members of a grant team may simultaneously access and edit different web forms within an application. For each funding opportunity announcement (FOA), you can create individual instances of a workspace.

Below is an overview of applying on Grants.gov. For access to complete instructions on how to apply for opportunities, refer to: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/workspace-overview.html.

1. Create a Workspace: Creating a workspace allows you to complete it online and route it through your organization for review before submitting.

2) Complete a Workspace: Add participants to the workspace to work on the application together, complete all the required forms online or by downloading PDF versions, and check for errors before submission. The Workspace progress bar will display the state of your application process as you apply. As you apply using Workspace, you may click the blue question mark icon near the upper-right corner of each page to access context-sensitive help.

a. Adobe Reader: If you decide not to apply by filling out web forms, you can download individual PDF forms in Workspace. The individual PDF forms can be downloaded and saved to your local device storage, network drive(s), or external drives, then accessed through Adobe Reader.

NOTE: Visit the Adobe Software Compatibility page on Grants.gov to download the appropriate version of the software at: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/adobe-software-compatibility.html.

b. Mandatory Fields in Forms: In the forms, you will note fields marked with an asterisk and a different background color. These fields are mandatory fields that must be completed to successfully submit your application.

c. Complete SF-424 Fields First: The forms are designed to fill in common required fields across other forms, such as the applicant name, address, and DUNS Number. Once it is completed, the information will transfer to the other forms.

1. Submit a Workspace: An application may be submitted through Workspace by clicking the Sign and Submit button on the Manage Workspace page, under the Forms tab. Grants.gov recommends submitting your application package at least 24-48 hours prior to the close date to provide you with time to correct any potential technical issues that may disrupt the application submission.

1. Track a Workspace Submission: After successfully submitting a workspace application, a Grants.gov Tracking Number (GRANTXXXXXXXX) is automatically assigned to the application. The number will be listed on the Confirmation page that is generated after submission. Using the tracking number, access the Track My Application page under the Applicants tab or the Details tab in the submitted workspace.

For additional training resources, including video tutorials, refer to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-training.html.

Helpful Reminders

1. REGISTER EARLY – Grants.gov registration involves many steps including registration on SAM (www.sam.gov) which may take approximately one week to complete, but could take upwards of several weeks to complete, depending upon the completeness and accuracy of the data entered into the SAM database by an applicant. You may begin working on your application while completing the registration process, but you cannot submit an application until all of the registration steps are complete. Please note that once your SAM registration is active, it will take 24-48 hours for the information to be available in Grants.gov, and before you can submit an application through Grants.gov. For detailed information on the registration steps, please go to: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html. [Note: Your organization will need to update its SAM registration annually.]

Primary information about SAM is available at www.sam.gov. However, to further assist you with obtaining and registering your DUNS number and TIN in SAM or updating your existing SAM account, the Department of Education has prepared a SAM.gov Tip Sheet which you can find at: http://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/sam-faqs.html.

1. SUBMIT EARLY – We strongly recommend that you do not wait until the last day to submit your application. Grants.gov will put a date/time stamp on your application and then process it after it is fully uploaded. The time it takes to upload an application will vary depending on a number of factors including the size of the application and the speed of your Internet connection, and the time it takes Grants.gov to process the application will vary as well. If Grants.gov rejects your application (see step three below), you will need to resubmit successfully to Grants.gov before 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date.

Note: To submit successfully, you must provide the DUNS number on your application that was used when you registered as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) on Grants.gov. This DUNS number is typically the same number used when your organization registered with the SAM. If you do not enter the same DUNS number on your application as the DUNS you registered with, Grants.gov will reject your application.

1. VERIFY SUBMISSION IS OK – You will want to verify that Grants.gov received your application submission on time and that it was validated successfully. To see the date/time your application was received, log in to Grants.gov and click on the Track My Application link. For a successful submission, the date/time received should be earlier than 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date, AND the application status should be: Validated, Received by Agency, or Agency Tracking Number Assigned. Once the Department of Education receives your application from Grants.gov, an Agency Tracking Number (PR/award number) will be assigned to your application and will be available for viewing on Grants.gov’s Track My Application link.

If the date/time received is later than 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the deadline date, your application is late. If your application has a status of “Received” it is still awaiting validation by Grants.gov. Once validation is complete, the status will either change to “Validated” or “Rejected with Errors.” If the status is “Rejected with Errors,” your application has not been received successfully. Some of the reasons Grants.gov may reject an application can be found on the Grants.gov site: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/encountering-error-messages.html. For more detailed information on troubleshooting Adobe errors, you can review the Adobe Reader Software Tip Sheet at: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/adobe-software-compatibility.html. If you discover your application is late or has been rejected, please see the instructions below. Note: You will receive a series of confirmations both online and via e-mail about the status of your application. Please do not rely solely on e-mail to confirm whether your application has been received timely and validated successfully.

Submission Problems – What should you do?

If you have problems submitting to Grants.gov before the closing date, please contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov or access the Grants.gov Self-Service Knowledge Base web portal at: https://grants-portal.psc.gov/Welcome.aspx?pt=Grants.

If electronic submission is required, you must submit an electronic application before 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time, unless you follow the procedures in the Federal Register notice and qualify for one of the exceptions to the electronic submission requirement and submit, no later than two weeks before the application deadline date, a written statement to the Department that you qualify for one of these exceptions. If electronic submission is optional and you have problems that you are unable to resolve before the deadline date and time for electronic applications, please follow the transmittal instructions for hard copy applications in the Federal Register notice and get a hard copy application postmarked by midnight on the deadline date. (See the Federal Register notice for detailed instructions.)

Helpful Hints When Working with Grants.gov

Please go to http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html for help with Grants.gov. For additional tips related to submitting grant applications, please refer to the Grants.gov Applicant FAQs found at this Grants.gov link: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-faqs.html, as well as additional information on Workspace at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-faqs.html#workspace.

Dial-Up Internet Connections

When using a dial up connection to upload and submit your application, it can take significantly longer than when you are connected to the Internet with a high-speed connection, e.g. cable modem/DSL/T1. While times will vary depending upon the size of your application, it can take a few minutes to a few hours to complete your grant submission using a dial up connection. If you do not have access to a high-speed connection and electronic submission is required, you may want to consider following the instructions in the Federal Register notice to obtain an exception to the electronic submission requirement no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. (See the Federal Register notice for detailed instructions.)

Attaching Files – Additional Tips

Please note the following tips related to attaching files to your application:

1. When you submit your application electronically, you must upload any narrative sections and all other attachments to your application as files in either Portable Document Format (PDF) or Microsoft Word. Although applicants have the option of uploading any narrative sections and all other attachments to their application in either PDF or Microsoft Word, we recommend applicants submit all documents as read-only flattened PDFs, meaning any fillable PDF files must be saved and submitted as non-fillable PDF files and not as interactive or fillable PDF files, to better ensure applications are processed in a more timely, accurate, and efficient manner.

1. Grants.gov cannot process an application that includes two or more files that have the same name within a grant submission. Therefore, each file uploaded to your application package should have a unique file name.

1. When attaching files, applicants should follow the guidelines established by Grants.gov on the size and content of file names. Uploaded file names must be fewer than 50 characters, and, in general, applicants should not use any special characters. However, Grants.gov does allow for the following UTF-8 characters when naming your attachments: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore, hyphen, space, period, parenthesis, curly braces, square brackets, ampersand, tilde, exclamation point, comma, semi colon, apostrophe, at sign, number sign, dollar sign, percent sign, plus sign, and equal sign. Applications submitted that do not comply with the Grants.gov guidelines will be rejected at Grants.gov and not forwarded to the Department.

1. Applicants should limit the size of their file attachments. Documents submitted that contain graphics and/or scanned material often greatly increase the size of the file attachments and can result in difficulties opening the files. For reference, the average discretionary grant application package with all attachments is less than 5 MB. Therefore, you may want to check the total size of your package before submission.

Application Transmittal Instructions This program requires the electronic submission of applications.

According to the instructions found in the Federal Register Notice, those requesting and qualifying for an exception to the electronic submission requirement may submit an application by mail, commercial carrier or by hand delivery.

If you want to apply for a grant and be considered for funding, you must meet the following deadline requirements:

Applications Submitted Electronically:

You must submit your grant application through the Internet using the software provided on the Grants.gov Web site (http://www.grants.gov) by 11:59:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on or before the deadline date.

If you submit your application through the Internet via the Grants.gov Web site, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement when we receive your application.

For more information on using Grants.gov, please refer to the Grants.gov information found in this application package and visit http://www.grants.gov.

Submission of Paper Applications by Mail:

If you qualify for an exemption to the electronic submission requirement and you submit your application in paper format by mail (through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier), you must mail the original and two copies of your application, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center Attention: CFDA Number 84.425P LBJ Basement Level 1 400 Maryland Avenue, SW.

Washington, DC 20202-4260

You must show proof of mailing consisting of one of the following:

(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark.

(2) A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the U.S. Postal Service.

(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial carrier.

(4) Any other proof of mailing acceptable to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

If you mail your application through the U.S. Postal Service, we do not accept either of the following as proof of mailing:

1. A private metered postmark.

2. A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.

An applicant should note that the U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly provide a dated postmark. Before relying on this method, an applicant should check with its local post office.

Special Note: Due to potential disruption to normal mail delivery, the Department encourages you to consider using an alternative delivery method (for example, a commercial carrier, such as Federal Express or United Parcel Service; U.S. Postal Service Express Mail; or a courier service) to transmit your application for this competition to the Department. If you use an alternative delivery method, please obtain the appropriate proof of mailing under “Applications Delivered by Mail,” and then follow the instructions for “Applications Delivered by Hand.”

Submission of Paper Applications by Hand Delivery:

If you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, you (or a courier service) may deliver your paper application to the Department by hand. You must deliver the original and two copies of your application by hand, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center Attention: CFDA Number 84.425P 550 12th Street, SW.

Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza Washington, DC 20202-4260

Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of Paper Applications:

If you mail or hand deliver your application to the Department—

1. You must indicate on the envelope and--if not provided by the Department--in Item 11 of the SF 424 the CFDA number, including suffix letter, if any, of the competition under which you are submitting your application; and

2. The Application Control Center will mail to you a notification of receipt of your grant application. If you do not receive this notification within 15 business days from the application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.

Application Control Center Hours of Operation:

The Application Control Center accepts application deliveries daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (Washington, D.C. time) except Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

Late Applications

If your application is late, we will notify you if we will not consider the application.

4000-01-U

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Applications for New Awards; Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity Grants Program AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Department of Education (Department) is issuing a notice inviting applications (NIA) from eligible applicants for fiscal year (FY) 2020 for Institutional Resilience and Expanded Postsecondary Opportunity (IREPO) Grants under section 18004(a)(3) of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or Act), Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number 84.425P. This notice relates to the approved information collection under OMB control number 1840-0848.

DATES:

Applications Available: August 21, 2020.

Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: September 10, 2020.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: October 20, 2020.

Pre-Application Information: The Department will post additional information for prospective applicants on the IREPO program website:

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/heerfirepo.html.

ADDRESSES: For the addresses for obtaining and submitting an application, please refer to our Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs, published in the Federal Register on February 13, 2019 (84 FR 3768) and available at www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-02-13/pdf/2019-02206.pdf.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Epps, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, 250-64, Washington, DC 20202. Telephone: (202) 453-6337. Email: Karen.Epps@ed.gov.

If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Full Text of Announcement I. Funding Opportunity Description Purpose of Program: The purpose of the IREPO Grants, offered under section 18004(a)(3) of the CARES Act and the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), is to provide financial support to institutions of higher education (IHEs) with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus to enable them to resume operations, serve the needs of students, reduce disease transmission, and develop more resilient instructional delivery models, such as distance learning, to continue educating students who cannot or choose not to attend classroom-based instruction due to coronavirus.

This program contains one absolute priority. In addition, there are three competitive preference priorities that allow for up to three points to be awarded for each of two competitive priorities and up to ten points for one competitive priority, for a cumulative total of up to sixteen competitive preference points.

Background: Section 18004(a)(3) of the CARES Act directs the Secretary to allocate 2.5 percent of the $14.2 billion Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) funds appropriated by the Act to provide grants to institutions under part B of title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), for institutions that the Department has determined have the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus. Part B of title VII of the HEA establishes the FIPSE. FIPSE grants, including grants under this program, are limited to institutions of higher education, as defined in section 101 of the HEA.

For the purpose of this program, we define institutions with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus as those that--

The Department will provide grants to individual eligible institutions or consortia of two or more eligible institutions.

Starting in March 2020, the novel coronavirus forced nearly all the Nation’s secondary and postsecondary institutions to expand their use of, or transition fully to, remote learning. While some IHEs already had a significant online presence prior to the COVID-19 national emergency, others had little experience in delivering distance learning. For those institutions, the move to distance learning represented an abrupt and costly shift to a new instructional model that may have required the institution to purchase or lease equipment; develop or procure a learning management system; develop or procure distance learning content; train faculty and staff to engage in instruction and student support using technology; provide equipment; and pay internet access fees on behalf of students.

In addition, the shift to distance learning left many campuses with empty campus facilities, required them to refund portions of student tuition and fees, and reduced their revenue streams from ancillary programs and services. The Department is generally aware that there is a concern that student enrollments will continue to decline as a result of COVID-19 related disruptions among IHEs.[footnoteRef:1][footnoteRef:2] Therefore, new efforts are required to help institutions become more resilient in the face of continuing COVID-19 or other similar interruptions and to develop more cost-effective models of operation to make higher education more affordable. This program seeks to support those efforts for institutions that have the highest unmet needs related to coronavirus. [1: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2020/04/07/500-1000-colleges-to-disappear-survival-of-the-fittest/#5a0d019411a1] [2: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/covid-19-and-us-higher-education-enrollment-preparing-leaders-for-fall#]

In the case of secondary schools, few had experience in providing instruction through distance learning, and many schools either ceased providing instruction to students for several weeks, ended the school year early, or transitioned to distance learning but reduced learning expectations and rigor in an effort to accommodate their lack of experience in providing distance education. Unfortunately, this means that even more students are likely to graduate from high school underprepared for the demands of postsecondary education, thereby reducing the rates at which they enter, persist through, and complete postsecondary education, including career and technical education.

Research shows that students who enter college having participated in concurrent enrollment programs are more likely to complete high school, enroll directly in four-year institutions, persist in postsecondary education, and accumulate more college credit, and these students are less likely to need developmental education as matriculated undergraduate students.[footnoteRef:3] Therefore, the Department sees an opportunity to address this unmet need by encouraging IHEs to expand dual enrollment opportunities, thus compensating for deficiencies of the Nation’s K-12 system in serving students through distance learning during the national emergency, and increasing student readiness for, and success in pursuing, postsecondary education. Such efforts will also help stabilize enrollments at participating IHEs. For this reason, one of the competitive preference priorities for this program is the development or expansion of high-quality concurrent or dual enrollment programs, including career and technical education programs, for high school students who can earn college credits while earning their high school diploma. [3: https://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/media/k2/attachments/broadening-benefits-dual-enrollment-rp.pdf]

In addition, the Department recognizes the stabilizing force the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), minority serving institutions (MSIs), and other institutions that are eligible to participate in title III or title V programs have in their communities. As such, institutions that are eligible to participate in title III or title V programs, and that are either located in a rural community or Opportunity Zone, or serve high school students through dual enrollment who live in or attend high school in a rural community or Opportunity Zone, including home schooled students, are given a competitive preference.

Applicants are encouraged to develop innovative solutions that expand remote learning opportunities, including for dual enrollment students. The proposed project design should be supported by evidence that meets the standard of demonstrates a rationale (as defined in this notice). Applications may provide a framework that identifies key components on how the proposed strategy, program, or activity is informed by research or by the positive outcomes of earlier efforts that are similar to or serve as the foundation for the proposed project.[footnoteRef:4] These positive outcomes must suggest that the proposed activity is likely to improve relevant outcomes (as defined in this notice). We encourage evidence that demonstrates a rationale for the proposed activity to ensure that some preliminary work has been done to demonstrate the merit of the proposal, while at the same time inviting the broadest possible range of innovative solutions that may not yet have been tested at scale or evaluated through experimental or quasi-experimental design. [4: This type of action can also be described as a logic model, as defined by 34 CFR 77.1.]

Priorities: This notice contains one absolute priority and three competitive preference priorities. We are establishing these priorities for the FY 2020 grant competition and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA), 20 U.S.C. 1232(d)(1).

Absolute Priority: This priority is an absolute priority. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), we consider only applications that meet this absolute priority.

Expanding Opportunity and Building Institutional Resilience.

Projects that will provide financial support to IHEs with the greatest unmet needs related to coronavirus to enable them to resume operations, serve the needs of students, reduce disease transmission, and/or implement safe and effective instructional delivery models, that will enable safe in-person learning and expand remote learning opportunities when necessary.

Competitive Preference Priorities: These priorities are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we award up to an additional sixteen points to an application, depending on how well the application meets these priorities.

Projects that propose to use grant funds to expand the institution’s capacity to develop or expand instructional delivery models, such as remote learning opportunities, to students who cannot or choose not to attend classroom-based instruction both during and after the COVID-19 national emergency. Under section 741(a)(3) of the HEA, the Secretary is authorized to make grants to improve postsecondary education through the establishment and continuation of institutions, programs, consortia, collaborations, and other joint efforts that utilize distance education and technological advancements to educate and train postsecondary students (including health professionals serving medically underserved populations). Under section 741(a)(5) of the HEA, the Secretary is authorized to make grants to improve postsecondary education through the design and introduction of cost-effective methods of instruction and operation. Consistent with these statutory goals, this competitive preference priority addresses both an institution’s need to respond to disruptions in instruction related to coronavirus, and the FIPSE goals of introducing or expanding the use of technology, and potentially reducing the cost of instructional delivery using such mechanisms.

Competitive Preference Priority 2-–Providing Dual Enrollment Opportunities to Students Who Live or Attend School in a Rural Community or Opportunity Zone. (0-10 points) Projects that provide high-quality postsecondary dual enrollment opportunities, which may include career and technical education programs, to high school students who live in or attend high school (including students who are homeschooled) in rural communities or Opportunity Zones. For purposes of this competition, a community is “rural” if the community meets the qualifications for rural applicants established in section 114(e)(5)(A) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, and the applicant certifies that it meets those qualifications in its application. To receive points for proposing to serve students who live in or attend high school in an Opportunity Zone, applicants must provide the census tract number(s) of the relevant Qualified Opportunity Zone, as designated by the Secretary of the Treasury under section 1400Z-1 of the Internal Revenue Code. This competitive preference priority aligns with section 741(a)(6) of the HEA, which authorizes the Secretary to make grants to support the introduction of institutional reforms designed to expand individual opportunities for entering and reentering postsecondary institutions and pursuing programs of postsecondary study tailored to individual needs.

Competitive Preference Priority 3––Title III and Title V Participating Institutions. (0-3 points) Projects that—

Definitions: The definitions of “baseline,” “demonstrates a rationale,” “performance measure,” “performance target,” “project component,” and “relevant outcome” are from 34 CFR 77.1. The definition of “institution of higher education” is from section 101 of the HEA. We are establishing the definition of “distance education,” for the FY 2020 grant competition and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applications from this competition, in accordance with section 437(d)(1) of GEPA, 20 U.S.C. 1232(d)(1).