U.S. Department of Education
The mission of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access
ED funding opportunities
The U.S. Department of Education provides three types of grants: discretionary grants (awarded using a competitive process), student loans or grants (to help students pursue and attend postsecondary education), and formula grants (uses formulas determined by Congress and has no application process). This webpage provides information on funding opportunities and technical assistance resources available at ED.
OSHS Discretionary Programs
- Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) provides competitive funds for short-term and long-term education-related services for local educational agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs) to help them recover from a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted.
- Project School Emergency Response to Violence funds short-term and long-term education-related services for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education to help them recover from a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted.
- The Native American Career and Technical Education Program provides competitive grants to federally-recognized Indian tribes, tribal organizations, Alaskan Native entities, and eligible Bureau of Indian Education-funded schools to provide career and technical education programs for Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.
- The Native Hawaiian Career and Technical Education Program provides competitive grants to community-based organizations primarily serving and representing Native Hawaiians to plan, conduct, and administer career and technical programs for Native Hawaiian students.
- The Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career Technical Institutions Program provides competitive grants to tribally controlled postsecondary career and technical institutions that do not receive assistance under the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act or the Navajo Community College Act.
- Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs is a discretionary grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education, through providing services at high-poverty middle and high schools, and awarding college scholarships to low-income students.
OSHS Formula Programs
- The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Program provides formula grants to SEAs. Among other things, the program supports an office for coordination of the education of homeless children and youths in each state, which gathers comprehensive information about homeless children and youths and the impediments they must overcome to regularly attend school. These grants also help SEAs ensure that homeless children, including preschoolers and youths, have equal access to free and appropriate public education (FAPE).
- The Neglected and Delinquent (Title I, Part D) Program provides formula grants to SEAs for supplementary education services to help provide education continuity for children and youths in state-run institutions for juveniles and in adult correctional institutions, so that these youths can make successful transitions to school or employment once they are released.
- The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program provides formula grants to SEAs to supports the capacity building of states, local educational agencies, schools and local communities to: (1) provide all students with access to a well-rounded education; (2) improve school conditions for student learning; and (3) improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy for all students.
- 21st Century Community Learning Centers support the creation of community learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during nonschool hours for children, particularly students attending high-poverty and low-performing schools.
- The Carol M. White Physical Education Program provides grants to local educational agencies and community-based organizations to initiate, expand, or enhance physical education programs that help students make progress toward meeting state standards, including after-school programs, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.
- ED Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS) provides financial assistance for drug and violence prevention activities; activities that promote the health and well-being of students in elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education; and school preparedness activities that contribute to improved conditions for learning. Activities may be carried out by other federal agencies, state and local educational agencies, and public and private nonprofit organizations. OSHS is divided into three subordinate units: Safe and Supportive Schools Group, Healthy Students Group, and Center for School Preparedness.
- Education for Homeless Children and Youths Grants for State and Local Activities help schools ensure that homeless children, including preschoolers and youths, have equal access to free and appropriate public education.
- Promise Neighborhoods provides funding to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of all children in the most distressed communities, including rural and tribal communities.
- The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act provides grants to states to support programs that help individuals ages 16 and older who lack a high school diploma (or its equivalent) or proficiency in English become literate, obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency, obtain a secondary school diploma, and transition to postsecondary education and training. During the 2015 program year, more than 136,000 out-of-school youth ages 16 to 18 participated in AEFLA-supported programs.
- The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act provides grants to assist states in expanding and improving career and technical education in high schools, technical schools, and community colleges. Each state uses program funds to support a variety of career and technical education programs developed in accordance with its State plan.
OSHS Technical Assistance Centers
- Safe and Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center provides state, district and school administrators, teachers, school support staff, communities and families with resources and support to develop rigorous measurement systems that assess school climate and implement and evaluate programmatic interventions.
- Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports works to improve the capacity of states, districts and schools to establish, scale-up and sustain the PBIS framework. The center was established by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. Additional funding is provided by the Office of Safe and Healthy Students.
- Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center's primary goal is to support schools, districts, and institutions of higher education in school emergency management and planning, including the development and implementation of comprehensive, all-hazards, high-quality emergency operations plans. The center disseminates information about school emergency management and planning to help school communities learn more about developing, implementing, and revising high-quality emergency operations plans.
- National Center for Homeless Education provides state coordinators for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, local liaisons and other homeless education staff in school districts, and communities and families experiencing homelessness with resources and information pertaining to all facets of education for homeless children and youth from pre-school through post-secondary education.
- Neglected or Delinquent Education Technical Assistance Center provides state coordinators for the Title I, Part D program, state and local agency education directors and grant contacts, and communities and families with resources and information pertaining to prevention, intervention and reentry education programs and activities around the country.
- National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement provides guidance for communities and schools to understand, meet the needs of, and decrease the impact on behavior and development of children and families touched by crises.
- Parent Technical Assistance Centers help Parent Centers (PTAC) build capacity to provide information and training to families of children with disabilities — physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional — and to manage the administrative challenges of running a Parent Center. PTACs are divided into six geographic regions and two national Centers.
- The Literacy Information and Communications System (LINCS) provides free online access to high-quality, evidence-based materials to help adult education practitioners and state and local staff improve programs, services, instruction, and teacher quality. Spanning 15 topic areas, the collection provides relevant instructional resources and professional development materials, as well as research articles, policy briefs, reports, multimedia resources, and more.
- The LINCS Learner Center is a collection of free online resources to help adult and out-of-school learners reach different goals, such as learning to read or becoming a U.S. citizen. It also helps learners find literacy programs in their communities.
- Federal Student Aid offers a host of resources on preparing and paying for postsecondary education and training, including information on federal student aid programs and how to apply for them.
- The What Works Clearinghouse reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education. Its goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions. It focuses on the results from high-quality research to answer the question “What works in education?"