[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 156 (Monday, August 14, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41882-41884]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-20031]



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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[CFDA Nos.: 84.116A; 84.116B]


Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education--
Comprehensive Program (Preapplication and Applications); Notice 
Inviting Applications for New Awards for Fiscal Year (FY) 1996

    Purpose of Program: To provide grants or enter into cooperative 
agreements to improve postsecondary education opportunities.
    Eligible Applicants: Institutions of higher education or 
combinations of such institutions and other public and private 
nonprofit educational institutions and agencies.
    Deadline For Transmittal Of Preapplications: October 18, 1995.
    Deadline For Transmittal Of Final Applications: March 18, 1996.

    Note: All applicants must submit a preapplication to be eligible 
to submit a final application.

    Deadline For Intergovernmental Review: May 18, 1996.
    Applications Available: August 17, 1995.
    Available Funds: The Administration's request for the Fund for the 
Improvement of Postsecondary Education for FY 1996 is $17,543,000. Of 
this amount, it is anticipated that approximately $5,325,000 will be 
available for an estimated 75 new awards under the Comprehensive 
Program. The Congress has not yet completed action on the FY 1996 
appropriation. The estimates in this notice assume passage of the 
Administration's request.
    Estimated Range of Awards: $15,000 to $150,000 per year.
    Estimated Average Size Of Awards: $71,000.
    Estimated Number Of Awards: 75.

    Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this 
notice.

    Project Period: Up to 36 months.
    Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General 
Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR Parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 80, 
82, 85, and 86, with the exceptions noted in 34 CFR 630.4a(2); and (b) 
The regulations for this program in 34 CFR Part 630.

Priorities

Absolute Priority

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(3), 34 CFR 630.12 and 34 CFR 630.11(a), the 
Secretary gives an absolute preference to applications that meet the 
following priority. The Secretary funds under this competition only 
applications that meet this absolute priority:
    Projects that respond to immediate problems or issues and that seek 
to improve postsecondary education opportunities.

Invitational Priorities

    Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(1) and 34 CFR 630.12, the Secretary is 
particularly interested in applications that meet one or more of the 
following invitational priorities. However, an application that meets 
one or more of these invitational priorities does not receive 
competitive 

[[Page 41883]]
or absolute preference over other applications:
    Invitational Priority 1--Applications to support new ways of 
ensuring equal access to postsecondary education, and to improve rates 
of retention and program completion, especially for low-income and 
underrepresented minority students, whose retention and completion 
rates continue to lag disturbingly behind those of other groups.
    Invitational Priority 2--Applications to create programs that 
prepare students for entering the workforce and that serve the 
continuing education and retraining needs of workers.
    Invitational Priority 3--Applications to improve the campus climate 
by creating an environment that is safe, welcoming, and conducive to 
learning for all students.
    Invitational Priority 4--Applications to restructure institutions 
in ways that reassert the primacy of teaching and learning; and to 
increase learning productivity--that is, to transform programs and 
teaching to promote more student learning relative to institutional 
resources expended.
    Invitational Priority 5--Applications to promote cooperation 
between colleges and universities and elementary and secondary schools 
in order to improve students' preparation for, access to, and success 
in college. In particular, the Secretary seeks innovative school-
college partnerships to improve articulation and develop new ways to 
improve both pre-service and in-service teacher education at both the 
elementary and secondary level.
    Invitational Priority 6--Applications to support innovative reforms 
of undergraduate, graduate, and professional curricula that improve not 
only what students learn, but how they learn.
    Invitational Priority 7--Applications to support the development of 
faculty as professionals by assessing and rewarding effective teaching; 
helping institutions and faculty find ways to increase their emphasis 
on teaching and other means of involvement with student learners; 
promoting new and more effective teaching methods; and improving the 
preparation--especially the teaching skills--of graduate students who 
will be future faculty members.
    Invitational Priority 8--Recognizing that many innovative 
postsecondary educational programs have already been locally developed 
and implemented, the Secretary invites applicants to disseminate these 
programs to other institutions.

Selection Criteria

    In evaluating applications for grants under this program 
competition, the Secretary uses the following selection criteria chosen 
from those listed in 34 CFR 630.32:
    (a) Significance for Postsecondary Education. The Secretary reviews 
each proposed project for its significance in improving postsecondary 
education by determining the extent to which it would--
    (1) Address an important problem or need;
    (2) Represent an improvement upon, or important departure from, 
existing practice;
    (3) Involve learner-centered improvements;
    (4) Achieve far-reaching impact through improvements that will be 
useful in a variety of ways and in a variety of settings; and
    (5) Increase the cost-effectiveness of services.
    (b) Feasibility. The Secretary reviews each proposed project for 
its feasibility by determining the extent to which--
    (1) The proposed project represents an appropriate response to the 
problem or need addressed;
    (2) The applicant is capable of carrying out the proposed project, 
as evidenced by, for example--
    (i) The applicant's understanding of the problem or need;
    (ii) The quality of the project design, including objectives, 
approaches, and evaluation plan;
    (iii) The adequacy of resources, including money, personnel, 
facilities, equipment, and supplies;
    (iv) The qualifications of key personnel who would conduct the 
project; and
    (v) The applicant's relevant prior experience;
    (3) The applicant and any other participating organizations are 
committed to the success of the proposed project, as evidenced by, for 
example--
    (i) Contribution of resources by the applicant and by participating 
organizations;
    (ii) Their prior work in the area; and
    (iii) The potential for continuation of the proposed project beyond 
the period of funding (unless the project would be self-terminating); 
and
    (4) The proposed project demonstrates potential for dissemination 
to or adaptation by other organizations, and shows evidence of interest 
by potential users.
    (c) Appropriateness of Funding Projects. The Secretary reviews each 
application to determine whether support of the proposed project by the 
Secretary is appropriate in terms of availability of other funding 
sources for the proposed activities.
    Under 630.32, the Secretary determines the methods that will be 
used in applying the selection criteria.
    For preapplications (preliminary applications), the Secretary will 
give greater weight to the selection criteria under Significance for 
Postsecondary Education. The Secretary will give equal weight to 
Feasibility, and Appropriateness of Funding Projects. For final 
applications (applications), all criteria are equally important. Within 
each of these criteria, the Secretary gives equal weight to each of the 
subcriteria. In applying the criteria, the Secretary first analyzes a 
preapplication or application in terms of each individual criterion and 
subcriterion. The Secretary then bases the final judgment of an 
application on an overall assessment of the degree to which the 
applicant addresses all section criteria.
    For Applications or Information Contact: Fund for the Improvement 
of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education, 600 
Independence Avenue SW., Room 3100, ROB-3, Washington, DC 20202-5175. 
Telephone: (202) 708-5750 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Eastern time, Monday through Friday, to order applications or for 
information. Individuals may also request applications by submitting 
the name of the competition, their name, and postal mailing address to 
the e-mail address [email protected]. Individuals may obtain the application 
text from Internet address http://www.ed.gov/prog_info/FIPSE/. 
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. 1135- 1135a-3.


[[Page 41884]]

    Dated: August 7, 1995.
David A. Longanecker,
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education.
[FR Doc. 95-20031 Filed 8-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P