Map icons
The National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency, supports professional development institutes for higher education faculty. The convenings support higher education faculty from across the nation to deepen their understanding of significant topics and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching.¹³⁶
Washington, D.C
The Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program
The Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of Excellence Program aims to support centers of excellence at historically black colleges and universities or other minority serving institutions to increase the number of well-prepared educators and teachers of color.¹³⁵
Washington, D.C
The Child Care Access Means Parents in School program
The Child Care Access Means Parents in School program helped 3,300 student parents pay for child care with payments of $385 per month on average. Appropriations for the program have increased from $15 million in FY 2017 to $75 million in FY 2023. In FY 2022, 300 new institutions were awarded $150,000 per year on average.¹³²
Washington, D.C
YouthBuild
YouthBuild is a pre-apprenticeship program to expand postsecondary opportunities for those without high school diplomas. The program serves 5,000 youth across 40 states.v
Washington, D.C
The College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium
The College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium is a collaboration of 28 GEAR UP grantees across 630 middle and high schools interested in understanding the impact of interventions.¹³⁰
Washington, D.C
Congressional Caucus
Lawmakers established a congressional caucus focused on predominantly Black institutions to educate policymakers on the important role these institutions play in serving low-income, first-generation, and minority students.¹²⁵
Washington, D.C
Gainful Employment Regulations
Recent changes to gainful employment regulations ensure that 32,000 federally supported career training programs require graduates to have an affordable level of debt and receive an earnings premium to qualify for federal financial aid.¹²⁴
Washington, D.C
The former Leveraging Educational Assistance Program
The former Leveraging Educational Assistance Program can serve as a blueprint to develop a strong federal-state partnership that expands access to underrepresented and low-income students.¹²³
Washington, D.C
Internal Revenue Service
Since 2009, the Internal Revenue Servicedata retrieval matchprocess has improved, reducing both the number of FAFSA questions students and parents must complete and the burden of providing verification of eligibility.¹¹⁵
Washington, D.C
U.S Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education updated its student loan management provisions to increase the accountability of servicers, allow borrowers to access their loans through a centralized website, and reduce disruptions from account transfers.¹¹³ This is especially important to ensure Black borrowers, half of whom report that their loan debt is more than their net worth, can access repayment benefits.¹¹⁴
Washington, D.C
FAFSA
The recent overhaul of the FAFSA application streamlines the process and expands access to Pell Grants, starting with the 2024−25 application.¹¹¹ As Black learners are more likely to receive the Pell Grant, these improvements are critical.¹¹²