[Federal Register: February 14, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 31)]
[Notices ]
[Page 5907-5909]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[[Page 5907]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part VII
Department of Education
_______________________________________________________________________
Inviting Applications for Designation as an Eligible Institution for
Fiscal Year 1996 for the Strengthening Institutions, Hispanic-serving
Institutions, and Endowment Challenge Grant Programs; Notice
[[Page 5908]]
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[CFDA No. 84.031A, CFDA No. 84.031G]
Notice Inviting Applications for Designation as an Eligible
Institution for Fiscal Year 1996 for the Strengthening Institutions,
Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs), and Endowment Challenge Grant
Programs
Purpose: Institutions of higher education must meet specific
statutory and regulatory requirements to be designated eligible to
receive funds under the Strengthening Institutions, HSI, and Endowment
Challenge Grant Programs, authorized, respectively, under Part A,
Section 316, and Part C of Title III of the Higher Education Act of
1965, as amended (HEA).
Beginning in Fiscal Year 1995, the Department of Education
(Department) instituted biennial grant award competitions under both
the Strengthening Institutions and HSI Programs. Under the biennial
grant award competition system, an institution applied in Fiscal Year
1995 to be considered for either a Fiscal Year 1995 or Fiscal Year 1996
grant award. As part of that system, no new grant award applications
would be accepted for Fiscal Year 1996 grant awards under either
program. (See the Federal Register of March 7, 1995, 60 FR 12543, for
the Strengthening Institutions Program Fiscal Year 1995 closing date
notice and the Federal Register of March 23, 1995, 60 FR 15448, for the
HSI Program Fiscal Year 1995 closing date notice.)
Under the biennial grant award competition system, field readers
evaluated and ranked all applications for both the Strengthening
Institutions and HSI Programs. An application not selected for funding
under the Fiscal Year 1995 grant award competition would be selected
for funding under the Fiscal Year 1996 grant award competition based
upon the rank order score it received in the field reader evaluation
and ranking, and available funds.
The biennial grant award competition system has the following
institutional eligibility implications. To receive a new grant in
Fiscal Year 1996 under either the Strengthening Institutions or HSI
Program, an institution must submit a Title III eligibility application
to the Department by the deadline dates set forth in this notice and
must qualify as an eligible institution under this notice. However,
interested institutions are advised that as of the date of this notice,
Congress has not appropriated sufficient funds in Fiscal Year 1996 to
fund new grants under either program.
The Endowment Challenge Grant Program is not under the biennial
grant award system. Thus, if an institution of higher education wishes
to apply for a new grant under a Fiscal Year 1996 funding competition,
unless it is an Historically Black College or University, it must
submit a Title III eligibility application to the Department by the
deadline dates set forth in this notice and must qualify as an eligible
institution under this notice. However, interested institutions are
advised that as of the date of this notice, Congress has not
appropriated any Endowment Challenge Grant Program funds for Fiscal
Year 1996.
Additionally, institutions that wish to be considered for waivers
of certain non-Federal share requirements under the Federal Work-Study
(FWS) or Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)
Programs authorized under Title IV of the HEA must submit a Title III
eligibility application to the Department by the deadline dates set
forth in this notice and must qualify as an eligible institution under
this notice. Qualified institutions may receive these waivers even if
they are not recipients of grants funds under Title III.
Notwithstanding the absence of funding for new awards in Fiscal
Year 1996, if an institution is interested in obtaining eligibility for
purposes of receiving a new grant under the Strengthening Institutions
or HSI Programs, applying for a new grant under the Endowment Challenge
Grant Program, or receiving a waiver of the non-federal share under FWS
or FSEOG Programs, it must submit its Title III eligibility application
to the Department by June 3, 1996. However, if an institution submits
its application by April 30, 1996, the Department will notify the
applicants of its eligibility status by May 31, 1996. An applicant that
believes it failed to be designated as an eligible institution because
of errors in its application or insufficient information in its waiver
request may submit an amended application to the Department no later
than June 21, 1996.
If an applicant submits its initial application after April 30,
1996 but on or before June, 1996, the Department does not guarantee
that it can review this delayed application and notify the applicant in
time to allow revisions to the application by the June 21, 1996
deadline date for amended applications.
Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 30, 1996 for early
applications, June 3, 1996 for all initial applications, and June 21,
1996 for amended applications.
Applications Available: March 15, 1996.
Eligibility Information: To qualify as an eligible institution
under the Strengthening Institutions and Endowment Challenge Grant
Programs, an applicant must (1) be accredited or preaccredited by a
nationally recognized accrediting agency; (2) be legally authorized by
the State in which it is located to be a junior or community college or
to provide a bachelor's degree program; and (3) have a high enrollment
of needy students. In addition, its educational and general (Eamp;&G)
expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student must
be low in comparison with the average E&G expenditures per FTE
undergraduate student of institutions that offer similar instruction.
The complete eligibility requirements are found in the Strengthening
Institutions Program regulations, 34 CFR Secs. 607.2-607.5, as revised
in the Federal Register on August 15, 1994 (59 FR 41914, 41922).
Enrollment of Needy Students: Under 34 CFR Sec. 607.3(a), an
institution is considered to have a high enrollment of needy students
if--(1) at least 50 percent of its degree students received financial
assistance under one or more of the following programs: Pell Grant,
Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, College Work Study, or
Perkins Loan Program; or (2) the percentage of its undergraduate degree
students who were enrolled on at least a half-time basis and received
Pell Grants exceeded the median percentage of undergraduate degree
students who were enrolled on at least a half-time basis and received
Pell Grants at comparable institutions that offer similar instruction.
To qualify under this latter criterion, an institution's Pell Grant
percentage for base year 1993-94 must be more than the median for its
category of comparable institutions provided on the table in this
notice.
E&G Expenditures Per FTE Student: An institution should compare its
average E&G expenditure/FTE student to the average E&G expenditure/FTE
student for its category of comparable institutions contained in the
table in this notice. If the institution's average E&G expenditure for
the 1993-94 base year is less than the average for its category of
comparable institutions, it meets this eligibility requirement.
The institution's E&G expenditures are the total amount it expended
during the base year for instruction, research, public service,
academic support, student services, institutional support, operation
and maintenance,
[[Page 5909]]
scholarships and fellowships, and mandatory transfers.
The following table identifies the relevant median Pell Grant
percentages and the average E&G expenditures per FTE student for the
1993-94 base year for the four categories of comparable institutions:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
Median E&G per
Pell grant FTE
percentage student
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2-year Public Institutions........................ 31.58 $6,044
2-year Non-Profit Private Institutions............ 30.76 $8,839
4-year Public Institutions........................ 28.87 $14,716
4-year Non-Profit Private Institutions............ 29.00 $21,012
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Waiver Information: Institutions of higher education that are
unable to meet the needy student enrollment requirement or the E&G
expenditure requirement may apply to the Secretary for waivers of these
requirements, as described in 34 CFR Secs. 607.3(b) and 607.4(c) and
(d). As discussed in the preamble to the final regulations published in
the Federal Register on August 15, 1994 (59 FR 41914-41917), the
Secretary has developed a set of more specific instructions relating to
the waiver provisions for institutions unable to meet the needy student
enrollment requirement. Institutions requesting a waiver of this
requirement must include detailed information as set forth in the
instructions for completing the application.
Under the waiver authority provided in 34 CFR Sec. 607.3(b)(2), an
institution must demonstrate that at least 30 percent of the students
it served in base year 1993-94 were from low-income families. The
regulations define ``low-income'' as an amount that does not exceed 150
percent of the amount equal to the poverty level as established by the
U.S. Bureau of the Census, 34 CFR Sec. 607.3(c). For the purposes of
this waiver provision, the following table sets forth the low-income
levels for the various sizes of families:
Base Year Low-Income Levels
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contiguous 48
States, the
District of
Size of family unit Columbia, and Alaska Hawaii
outlying
jurisdictions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.................................... $6,970 $8,700 $8,040
2.................................... 9,430 11,780 10,860
3.................................... 11,890 14,860 13,680
4.................................... 14,350 17,940 16,500
5.................................... 16,810 21,020 19,230
6.................................... 19,270 24,100 22,140
7.................................... 21,730 27,180 24,960
8.................................... 24,190 30,260 27,780
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For family units with more than eight members add the following
amount for each additional family member: $2,460 for the contiguous 48
states, the District of Columbia and outlying jurisdictions; $3,080 for
Alaska; and $2,820 for Hawaii.
The figures shown as low-income levels represent amounts equal to
150 percent of the family income levels established by the U.S. Bureau
of the Census for determining poverty status. The Census levels were
published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the
Federal Register on February 12, 1993 (58 FR 8287-8289). In reference
to the waiver option specified in Sec. 607.3(b)(4) of the regulations,
information about ``metropolitan statistical areas'' may be obtained by
requesting the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 1993, order number PB93-
192664, from the National Technical Information Services, Document
Sales, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161, telephone
number (703) 487-4650. There is a charge for this publication. For
general information about ``metropolitan statistical areas,''
institutions of higher education may contact the Strengthening
Institutions Program Branch.
Applicable Regulations: Regulations applicable to the eligibility
process include: (a) The Strengthening Institutions Program Regulations
in 34 CFR Part 607, as revised in the Federal Register on August 15,
1994 (59 FR 41914); (b) the Endowment Challenge Grant Program
Regulations in 34 CFR Part 628; and (c) the Education Department
General Administrative Regulations in 34 CFR Parts 74, 75, 77, 82, 85,
and 86.
For Applications or Information Contact: Strengthening Institutions
Program Branch, Division of Institutional Development, U.S. Department
of Education, 600 Independence Avenue, S.W., (Suite 600-C, Portals
Building), Washington, D.C. 20202-5335. Telephone: (202) 708-8839.
Individuals who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may
call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday.
Information about the Department's funding opportunities, including
copies of application notices for discretionary grant competitions, can
be viewed on the Department's electronic bulletin board (ED Board),
telephone (202) 260-9950; or on the Internet Gopher Server at
GOPHER.ED.GOV (under Announcements, Bulletins and Press Releases).
However, the official application notice for a discretionary grant
competition is the notice published in the Federal Register.
Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1057, 1059c and 1065a.
Dated: February 9, 1996.
David A. Longanecker,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 96-3320 Filed 2-13-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P