• What is a discretionary grant?
• What is a cooperative agreement?
• How does the Department establish discretionary grant programs?
• How are the Department's programs organized?
• How do I obtain information about the Department's discretionary grant programs?
• How do I learn if I am eligible to receive a discretionary grant?

The process of making a federal discretionary grant begins long before an applicant or grantee ever completes a grant application and submits it to the Department of Education. Federal grants have their origin in the legislative process of Congress and the regulatory process of federal agencies. A federal agency such as the U.S. Department of Education must set up a structure for the orderly review, award, and administration of grants. This section describes the way the Department’s grant programs are organized and how you can find the grant opportunities that are available to you.

What is a discretionary grant?

A discretionary grant is an award made by the Department for which the Department has discretion, or choice in, which applicants get funded. Virtually all of the Department’s discretionary grants are made based on a competitive review process. The Department reviews applications in light of the legislative and regulatory requirements established for a discretionary grant program. This review process gives the Department discretion to determine which applications best address the program requirements and are, therefore, most worthy of receiving funding.

What is a cooperative agreement?

A cooperative agreement is a type of discretionary grant the Department awards when it determines it must have substantial involvement with the grantee in order to meet the objectives of a grant. Substantial involvement may include ongoing Departmental participation in the project; very close collaboration with the grantee, and/or possible intervention or direct operational involvement in the review and approval of the successive stages of project activities.

NOTE: For the purposes of this publication, whenever the term "grant" is used it will also mean cooperative agreement. The laws, regulations, policies, and requirements in this document for awarding grants are also applicable to cooperative agreements, unless program statutes or regulations stipulate otherwise.

How does the Department establish discretionary grant programs?

Congress establishes discretionary grant programs through authorizing legislation and appropriations legislation. The Department generally writes program regulations based on the authorizing legislation, which describe how the programs are to be administered. Some discretionary grant programs do not publish regulations and rely totally on the rules in the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR). After these program regulations are published in final form and Congress appropriates funds for the program, the Department can solicit applications and award grants.

How are the Department’s programs organized?

There are nine principal offices in the Department that are responsible for the administration of discretionary grant programs. Each office is responsible for overseeing a portion of the programs established by Congress and administered by the Department. The principal offices are:

• The Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA).
  OELA administers programs designed to enable students with limited English proficiency to become proficient in English and meet challenging state academic content and student achievement standards.

• Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
  IES, ED's main research arm, compiles statistics; funds research, evaluations, and dissemination of information; and provides research-based guidance to further evidence-based policy and practice. Its three operational divisions are the National Center for Education Research, the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, and the National Center for Education Statistics.

• Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).
  OESE provides financial assistance to state and local education agencies for both public and private preschool, elementary, and secondary education. Working together with these and other education partners, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education promotes and supports equal educational opportunities and educational excellence for all students.

• Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE).
  OPE directs, coordinates, and recommends policies for programs that are designed to provide financial assistance to eligible students; improve postsecondary educational facilities and programs; recruit and prepare disadvantaged students for postsecondary programs; and promote the domestic study of foreign languages and international affairs, research, and exchange activities.

• Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
  OSERS assists in the education of children with disabilities and the rehabilitation of adults with disabilities and conducts research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities regardless of age.

• Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE).
  OVAE works to ensure that all Americans have the knowledge and technical skills necessary to succeed in postsecondary education, the workforce, and life. Through the Preparing America's Future initiative's comprehensive policies, programs and activities, OVAE is helping reform America's high schools, supporting America's community colleges and expanding America's adult education programs. These efforts will transform the federal role, sparking state and local reform efforts.

• Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS).
  OSDFS supports efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, ensure the health and well-being of students, and teach students good citizenship and character. OSDFS coordinates the Department’s efforts in these areas with other federal agencies and also leads the Department’s Homeland Security efforts.

• Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII).
  OII makes strategic investments in promising educational practices through grants to states, schools, and community and nonprofit organizations. It also leads the movement for greater parental options and information on education.

Within the principal offices, there are program offices and program staff that administer the Department’s discretionary grant programs on a daily basis. The program staff publish the program announcements, coordinate the review of applications that are received, make funding recommendations, and award grants to successful applicants. Program staff are supported in these activities by the Grants Policy and Oversight Staff (GPOS), which is responsible for developing overall discretionary grants policy for the Department and overseeing the discretionary grant process.

How do I obtain information about the Department’s discretionary grant programs?

There are several ways that you can get more information about the discretionary grant programs at the Department of Education:

• The World Wide Web. You can access information on discretionary grant funding by Principal Office and by types of programs available by logging on to the Department’s Web site at: http://www.ed.gov./ Click on the link: "Grants and Contracts."

• Guide to U.S. Department of Education Programs (the Guide). The Guide describes the various grant programs administered by the Department and provides a telephone number for further information about each program. You can access the Guide on ED’s Web site at: http://www.ed.gov/programs/gtep/index.html.

• Application Notices. The Department’s program offices publish notices in the Federal Register to announce that they are soliciting applications for a new discretionary grant competition. A program office uses application notices to announce a single competition or to invite applications for several program competitions. Application notices provide basic program and funding information on each competition, and inform potential applicants when and where they may obtain applications. These application notices are also posted on ED’s Web site.

• Forecast of Funding Opportunities (the Forecast). The Forecast is posted on the Department’s Web site in October. The Forecast lists most of the discretionary grant competitions planned for each principal office for the coming fiscal year, and includes anticipated application deadlines and other pertinent information.

• e-Grants. The Department of Education’s portal for electronic grants is located at the following URL: http://e-grants.ed.gov/. From e-Grants you can access all of the Department’s Web-based grant systems. Applicants can find information about several of the Department’s electronic grant initiatives including e-Application, which allows applicants to apply online to some of the Department’s programs. Individual programs will announce in their application notices whether e-Application will be used to receive electronic applications. Prospective applicants can click on the e-Application tab to access program information and apply for a grant. The Department is in the process of making electronic applications available for all program competitions.

• Grants.gov is a central location on the Internet that allows prospective grant applicants to find and apply for funding opportunities across the federal government. Applicants can search for information on different topics and review posted synopses of grant opportunities from 26 federal departments and agencies, and apply for a grant. The Department continues to increase the number of programs that will use Grants.gov (instead of e-Application) to receive electronic applications. Applicants can access Grants.gov at: http://www.grants.gov/.

How do I learn if I am eligible to receive a discretionary grant?

The first thing to determine before applying for a grant is whether your organization is eligible for the program. If you are not sure about the grant programs under which you would be eligible, start with the Guide. The Guide has an index to help you identify the grant program(s) for which you might be eligible. The Guide also gives the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for each grant program. To receive the appropriate information, it is essential that you use this number when contacting the Department about the specific grant program(s) of interest to you.

Once you know the number and title of the grant program(s) for which you want to apply, you may wish to review the program regulations provided in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Information about accessing the CFR from the Internet or obtaining a paper copy of the CFR is given in the section Other Information, which begins after the Glossary section of this publication. The CFR is updated once a year only and, therefore, might not include recent changes to program regulations. You should contact the program office listed in the Guide to verify the most recent version of the program regulations.

The application package specifies the eligibility requirements, generally drawn from the legislation establishing the program. Eligibility might be limited to a particular type of organization (e.g., only state education agencies), organizations that serve only a particular group (e.g., disadvantaged students), or organizations that meet some other criteria. In some cases, an organization wishing to apply under a particular program must first apply to the Department to be certified as eligible for that program. Eligibility requirements vary from program to program. Read the application notice that the Department publishes in the Federal Register for each new competition before deciding whether to apply.

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