Colleges for Minorities Can Now Apply for Special HEA Funding
Published Date: 3/6/2025
Notice
Summary
The Department of Education is opening applications for colleges to get special funding or ask for exceptions to rules in several programs supporting minority-serving and developing institutions for fiscal year 2025. Schools like Hispanic-Serving, Native American, and Predominantly Black Institutions can apply between March 6 and April 7, 2025. This means more chances for these schools to get money and support to help their students succeed.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 0 mixed.
Application window for FY2025 grants
If your college seeks Title III or V grant eligibility or a waiver for FY2025, applications open March 6, 2025 and must be transmitted by April 7, 2025. Decisions on waiver requests will be made approximately two weeks after the April 7, 2025 deadline.
One-year waiver of FSEOG and FWS cost-share
Eligible institutions may receive a waiver of non‑Federal cost‑sharing requirements for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) and Federal Work-Study (FWS) programs for one year even if they do not receive a Title III or V grant. Applicants that receive grants from Student Support Services (SSS) or Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) may receive a waiver or reduction of required non‑Federal cost share for the duration of those grants.
Needy-student and Core Expenses thresholds
To be eligible, an institution must meet needy-student or Core Expenses tests for base year 2022–2023: either at least 50% of degree-seeking students received Pell/FSEOG/FWS, or the institution’s half-time Pell percentage exceeds the median for comparable institutions (medians: 2-year public 44%; 2-year nonprofit private 48%; 4-year public 37%; 4-year nonprofit private 36%). For Core Expenses per FTE, an institution must have 2022–2023 Core Expenses below its category averages (2-year public $19,020; 2-year private $17,453; 4-year public $39,396; 4-year private $49,867). For waiver purposes, “low‑income” is defined as 150% of the Census poverty level with 2023 amounts (e.g., family of 1 = $21,870 contiguous U.S.; family of 4 = $45,000 contiguous U.S.).
Eligibility uses 2022–2023 IPEDS Core Expenses data
For FY2025 eligibility determinations, the Department will use National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) IPEDS Core Expenses per FTE data for academic year 2022–2023 and will calculate educational and general (E&G) per FTE using the NCES Core Expenses methodology.
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