| The Department of
Education has just published the GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and
Readiness for Undergraduate Programs)
Partnership Grants competition in the November 5, 2007 Federal Register
with a due date of December 20th, 2007.
Please be aware that this is not a state grant: the NJ Commission on Higher Education currently operates the NJ GEAR UP State Project Grant which will run until 2011. The next opportunity to apply for a state project grant will be at the end of the current cycle.
To learn more and to download the application package, visit http://www.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html.
Program Description
This discretionary grant program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. GEAR UP provides six-year grants to states and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty middle and high schools. GEAR UP grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follow the cohort through high school. GEAR UP funds are also used to provide college scholarships to low-income students.
Types of Projects
GEAR UP offers state and partnership grants. State grants are competitive six-year matching grants that must include both an early intervention component and a scholarship component. Partnership grants are competitive six-year matching grants that support early intervention programs designed to increase college attendance and success and raise the expectations of low-income students.
FROM A LEGISLATIVE POLICY UPDATE by the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships
Please note that the Department of Education has just published the GEAR UP competition in today's Federal Register with a due date of December 20th, 2007. To learn more, NCCEP urges you to visit the following site http://www.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html , which should be uploaded shortly with the Department’s RFP.
Further, we are pleased to announce that on Thursday, November 1st, House-Senate negotiators approved a $715 billion spending package, which included a final Congressional recommendation to fund GEAR UP at $318.4 million in FY 2008. The proposed level was inserted into the Veterans Affairs, Labor, HHS and Education Appropriation FY 2008 Conference report, and represents a $15 million increase over the current year’s level of $303.4 million. Moreover, the $15 million or 5% increase constitutes the first significant increase in the program’s annual funding level since FY 2001 and is the third largest increase in the program’s history.
The spending package must now be approved by both chambers of Congress before being sent to the President, who has already threatened to veto the measure. Therefore, final enactment of the bill depends on whether Congress can override the President’s veto. Be certain that NCCEP will continue to urge Members of Congress to support the measure by voting yes to overriding the President’s expected veto.
NCCEP would like to thank the GEAR UP community for steadfastly working with us in our efforts to educate Members of Congress about the work of GEAR UP programs. In many ways, this year’s record increase can be attributed to those efforts! Please check back with us in the coming weeks to learn more about GEAR UP’s FY 2008 funding status.
Best,
Wm. T. Miles, Jr., Director of Government Relations National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) 1400 20th Street, NW, Suite G-1 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202.530.1135 X 234 Fax: 202.530.0809 Website: www.edpartnerships.org |