Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Program Parts A/F Booklets

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Office of Postsecondary Education

Washington, DC 20006-8510

Fiscal Year 2014

APPLICATION FOR GRANTS

UNDER THE

Title III, Part A

Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program

CFDA # 84.031N and 84.031W

Form Approved

OMB No. 1840-0810, Exp. Date:

CLOSING DATE: June 2, 2014

Table of Contents

Page

Dear Applicant Letter……………………………………………………………. 1

Competition Highlights……...…………………………………………………... 3

Grants.gov Submission Procedures and Tips for Applicants..…………………… 5

Application Transmittal Instructions….…………………………………………. 9

Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards.......................……...................…. 11

Program Statute…………………………………………………………………... 44

Intergovernmental Review……………………………………………………….. 56

General Education Provisions Act (GEPA)……………….…...................……… 57

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)……………………………... 58

INSTRUCTIONS

Instructions for Completing the Application……………..………………………. 60

Instructions for Project Narrative ………………………………………………….. 62

Instructions for Priorities……………………………………………………….. 71

Instructions for Standard Forms………………………………………………….. 72

STANDARD FORMS

Instructions for the SF 424……………………………………………………….. 73

Instructions for Department of Education Supplemental Information for SF 424.. 75

Instructions for ED 524…………………………………………………………... 78

Instructions for Completion of SF-LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities…….. 79

Instructions for Survey for Ensuring Equal Opportunity for Applicants…………. 80

Supplemental Information and Instructions……….……………………………… 81

ANNH Program Profile Form……………………………………………………. 82

Application Checklist ……………………………………………………………. 84

Paperwork Burden Statement…………………………………………………….. 85

Dear Applicant:

Thank you for your interest in applying for a new grant under the fiscal year (FY) 2014 Title III, Part A, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH) Programs grant competition (Catalog of Federal and Domestic Assistance [CFDA] numbers 84.031N and 84.031W). This letter highlights specific elements in the Title III, Part A, ANNH Competition Application Package. As you formulate your application, please review these requirements carefully, and thoroughly review the entire Application Package before preparing and submitting your application.

In order to receive a grant under Title III, Part A Programs, an institution of higher education (IHE) must have applied for and been designated as an eligible institution. The Notice Inviting Applications for the Designation as an Eligible Institution was published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2014.

The FY 2014 ANNH grant competition offers IHEs two distinct application options. Under the Title III, Part A, ANNH Program applicants may address two Competitive Preference Priorities (CPPs) and one Invitational Priority (IP). Under the Title III, Part F, ANNH Program, covered in a separate document, applicants may address two CPPs and two IPs. Applicants will be given an additional five pages if addressing the CPPs, and an additional five pages if addressing the IP(s).

This ANNH, Part A, Application Booklet includes two CPPs and one IP. The CPPs are 1) Increasing Postsecondary Success and 2) Improving Productivity. Each CPP affords applicants the possibility of adding two (2) additional points to an application’s total score. Therefore, an institution could earn up to four (4) additional points. Applicants who do not address the CPPs will receive no (0) priority points. Please note that non-Federal reviewers will proportionately award points to each CPP response. The IP is: Support Activities that strengthen Native language preservation and revitalization at our institutions of higher education. There are no points associated with the IP.

The Department of Education (Department) strongly encourages applicants to address the CPPs and the IP. In order to secure the highest possible CPP score, the Department encourages applicants to provide thorough CPP responses. For additional information about the CPPs, refer to the Federal Register Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards for FY 2014. The notice is included in this Application Package.

In FY 2014, the Title III, Part A, ANNH competitions (84.031N and 84.031W) will award both Individual Development and Cooperative Arrangement Development Grants.

Applications for FY 2014 grants under the Title III, Part A, ANNH Program must be submitted electronically using Grants.gov at: http://www.grants.gov. At least two weeks before the deadline date an applicant who is unable to submit using Grants.gov must submit a written request to waive the electronic submission requirement. In order to submit a paper application, an applicant must have received approval for a non-electronic submission. Additional information about Grants.gov submission requirements can be found in the “Competition Highlights,” the Notice published in the Federal Register, and the transmittal instructions that are included in this Application Package.

The Notice Inviting Applications for New Awards published in the Federal Register is the official document describing the requirements for submitting a Title III, Part A, ANNH grant application. Applicants should not rely upon any information that is inconsistent with the guidance provided in the official document.

If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact LaTonya Brown by email at [email protected], or by telephone at (202) 502-7619. For an overview of significant competition elements, we encourage applicants to review the Application Package “Competition Highlights” section.

We appreciate your interest in the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Program and look forward to receiving your application.

Sincerely,

/s/

Linda Byrd-Johnson

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary

for Higher Education Programs

Competition Highlights

1. Title III, Part A, ANNH grant applications for FY 2014 must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov at: http://www.grants.gov

2. Please note that the Grants.gov site is different from the Department’s e-Application system used in past competitions. Once you download the application package from Grants.gov, you will be working offline and saving data on your computer. Be sure to note where you are saving the Grants.gov file on your computer. You will need to log on to Grants.gov to upload and submit your application.

3. We urge you to consider the following three important administrative factors when applying for this grant program:

1. Register at the Grants.gov website early. The registration procedures may require 5 or more days to complete.

2. Consider submitting your application 2-3 days prior to the closing date. The time it takes to upload an application will vary depending on your application and the speed of your Internet connection. The application submission process must be complete prior to the deadline for transmittal of applications.

3. Remember to provide the DUNS number that was used when your organization registered with the System for Award Management (SAM), formerly the Central Contractor Registry (CCR).

4. Grants.gov does not allow applicants to “un-submit” or delete applications. Therefore, if you discover that changes or additions are needed once your application has been accepted and validated by the Department, you must “re-submit” the application. If the Department receives duplicate applications, we will accept and process the application with the latest “date/time received” validation.

5. Authorized grant activities for ANNH are listed in Title III, Part A, Section 317 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). A copy of this section is included in this application package.

6. There are two competitive preference priorities (CPP) under this competition. Each CPP is worth two points. We award up to an additional four points total to an application, depending on how well the application meets both CPPs. Applicants must address the CPPs in order to receive any additional points. Applicants who do not address either of the CPPs will not receive points for the CPPs. The CPPs are: 1) Increasing Postsecondary Success and 2) Improving Productivity.

7. There is one invitational priority (IP) under this competition. There are no points association with the IP. The IP is: “Support Activities that strengthen Native language preservation and revitalization at our institutions of higher education”.

8. Please note that you must submit your application by 4:30:00 p.m. (Washington, D.C. time) on or before the application deadline date. Late applications will not be accepted. We suggest that you submit your application several days before the deadline. The Department is required to enforce the established deadline to ensure fairness to all applicants. No changes or additions to an application will be accepted after the deadline date.

9. All applicants are required to adhere to the page limit for the Project Narrative portion of the application. The page limit for an Individual Development Grant is no more than 50 pages. and the page limit for a Cooperative Arrangement Grant is no more than 70 pages.

10. If addressing CPPs 1, 2 or both, you will be permitted five additional pages. Each Priority should include a separate heading, and should be uploaded as a pdf file only in the “Other/CPP” section in Grants.gov. If addressing the IP, you will be permitted five additional pages. The IP should also have a separate heading, and should be uploaded as a pdf file only in the “Other/IP” section in Grants.gov.

11. All grant applicants for ANNH must have applied for and received FY 2014 Designation of Eligibility. Applicants failing to apply for eligibility will not have their application entered in the review process. The deadline for applying for basic eligibility was March 14, 2014.

12. Your institution's application for a FY 2014 Title III, Part A, ANNH grant MUST be in the same name provided in the FY 2014 Designation of Eligibility application, or it will be deemed not eligible to be read.

13. For FY 2014, applicants can only receive funding for one Title III or Title V program.

14. All applicants are required to submit an ANNH Program Profile Form (page 83), which contains the tie-breaker information. Applicants are asked to carefully read question #4 on the Program Profile Form information and, if applicable, to check the box or place an X next to the box certifying that they will comply with the statutory requirement and program assurances regarding endowments cited in the program regulations.

15. All applicants must provide an abstract limited to one single-spaced page. The abstract must be uploaded as a PDF file only. Complete instructions for submitting the abstract are included in the “Instructions for Completing the Application.”

16. Information on ANNH is accessible at the Department’s Web site at:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/idues/index.html

Grants.gov Submission Procedures and Tips for Applicants

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ FIRST

U.S. Department of Education

Grants.gov Submission Procedures and Tips for Applicants

To facilitate your use of Grants.gov, this document includes important submission procedures you need to be aware of to ensure your application is received in a timely manner and accepted by the Department of Education.

ATTENTION – Adobe Forms and PDF Files Required

Applications submitted to Grants.gov for the Department of Education will be posted using Adobe forms. Therefore, applicants will need to download a newer version of Adobe reader (Grants.gov recommends Adobe Reader 10.1.4). Information on computer and operating system compatibility with Adobe, links to download a newer version, and warnings about using Adobe Reader XI are all available on Grants.gov. We strongly recommend that you review these details on www.Grants.gov before completing and submitting your application. In addition, applicants should submit their application a day or two in advance of the closing date as detailed below. Applicants are required to upload their attachments in .pdf format only. (See details below under “Attaching Files – Additional Tips.”).

Please be aware that Grants.gov has discovered an issue with the newest version of Adobe Reader XI.

Applicants may encounter the following error that will prevent them from submitting their application:

"At least one required Field was empty. Please fill in the required field (highlighted) before continuing."

Grants.gov recommends that if applicants encounter this issue, they submit their application using any version below Adobe Reader XI. Please refer to the compatibility table for additional information about supported versions of Adobe Reader. If you have any questions regarding this matter please email the Grants.gov Contact Center at [email protected] or call 1-800-518-4726.

1. REGISTER EARLY – Grants.gov registration may take five or more business days to complete. You may begin working on your application while completing the registration process, but you cannot submit an application until all of the Registration steps are complete. For detailed information on the Registration Steps, please go to: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html

2. [Note: Your organization will need to update its System for Award Management (SAM) registration annually (formerly Central Contractor Registry (CCR)*.]

3. SUBMIT EARLY – We strongly recommend that you do not wait until the last day to submit your application. Grants.gov will put a date/time stamp on your application and then process it after it is fully uploaded. The time it takes to upload an application will vary depending on a number of factors including the size of the application and the speed of your Internet connection, and the time it takes Grants.gov to process the application will vary as well. If Grants.gov rejects your application (see step three below), you will need to resubmit successfully to Grants.gov before 4:30:00 p.m. Washington, DC time of the deadline date.

Note: To submit successfully, you must provide the DUNS number on your application that was used when you registered as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) on Grants.gov. This DUNS number is typically the same number used when your organization registered with the SAM (formerly CCR -Central Contractor Registry). If you do not enter the same DUNS number on your application as the DUNS you registered with, Grants.gov will reject your application. Please discuss with your central grants office if the application is for a branch campus.

4. VERIFY SUBMISSION IS OK – You will want to verify that Grants.gov received your application submission on time and that it was validated successfully. To see the date/time your application was received, login to Grants.gov and click on the Track My Application link. For a successful submission, the date/time received should be earlier than 4:30:00 p.m. Washington, DC time, on the deadline date, AND the application status should be: “Validated,” “Received by Agency,” or “Agency Tracking Number Assigned.” Once the Department of Education receives your application from Grants.gov, an Agency Tracking Number (PR/award number) will be assigned to your application and will be available for viewing on Grants.gov’s Track My Application link.

If the date/time received is later than 4:30:00 p.m. Washington, D.C. time, of the deadline date, your application is late. If your application has a status of “Received” it is still awaiting validation by Grants.gov. Once validation is complete, the status will either change to “Validated” or “Rejected with Errors.” If the status is “Rejected with Errors,” your application has not been received successfully. Some of the reasons Grants.gov may reject an application can be found on the Grants.gov site: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-faqs.html.

For more detailed information on troubleshooting Adobe errors, you can review the Adobe Reader Error Messages document at http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support/technical-support/troubleshooting/encountering-error-messages.html.

If you discover your application is late or has been rejected, please see the instructions below. Note: You will receive a series of confirmations both online and via e-mail about the status of your application. PLEASE DO NOT RELY SOLELY ON E-MAIL TO CONFIRM WHETHER YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN RECEIVED TIMELY AND VALIDATED SUCCESSFULLY.

Submission Problems – What should you do?

If you have problems submitting to Grants.gov before the closing date, please contact Grants.gov Customer Support at 1-800-518-4726 or http://www.grants.gov/contactus/contactus.jsp, or access the Grants.gov Self-Service web portal at: https://grants-portal.psc.gov/Welcome.aspx?pt=Grants

If electronic submission is optional and you have problems that you are unable to resolve before the deadline date and time for electronic applications, please follow the transmittal instructions for hard copy applications in the Federal Register notice and get a hard copy application postmarked by midnight on the deadline date.

If electronic submission is required, you must submit an electronic application before 4:30:00 p.m., unless you follow the procedures in the Federal Register notice and qualify for one of the exceptions to the electronic submission requirement and submit, no later than two weeks before the application deadline date, a written statement to the Department that you qualify for one of these exceptions. (See the Federal Register notice for detailed instructions.)

Helpful Hints When Working with Grants.gov

Please note, once you download an application from Grants.gov, you will be working offline and saving data on your computer. Please be sure to note where you are saving the Grants.gov file on your computer. You will need to logon to Grants.gov to upload and submit the application. You must provide the DUNS number on your application that was used when you registered as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) on Grants.gov.

Please go to http://www.grants.gov/contactus/contactus.jsp for help with Grants.gov. For additional tips related to submitting grant applications, please refer to the Grants.gov Submit Application FAQs found on the Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov/applicants/submit_application_faqs.jsp.

Dial-Up Internet Connections

When using a dial up connection to upload and submit your application, it can take significantly longer than when you are connected to the Internet with a high-speed connection, e.g. cable modem/DSL/T1. While times will vary depending upon the size of your application, it can take a few minutes to a few hours to complete your grant submission using a dial up connection. If you do not have access to a high-speed connection and electronic submission is required, you may want to consider following the instructions in the Federal Register notice to obtain an exception to the electronic submission requirement no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. (See the Federal Register notice for detailed instructions.)

MAC Users

For MAC compatibility information, review the Operating System Platform Compatibility Table at the following Grants.gov link: http://www.grants.gov/help/download_software.jsp. If electronic submission is required and you are concerned about your ability to submit electronically as a non-windows user, please follow instructions in the Federal Register notice to obtain an exception to the electronic submission requirement no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. (See the Federal Register notice for detailed instructions.)

Attaching Files – Additional Tips

Please note the following tips related to attaching files to your application, especially the requirement that applicants only include read-only, non-modifiable .PDF files in their application:

1. Ensure that you attach .PDF files only for any attachments to your application, and they must be in a read-only, non-modifiable format. PDF files are the only Department approved file type accepted as detailed in the Federal Register application notice. Applicants must submit individual .PDF files only when attaching files to their application. Specifically, the Department will not accept any attachments that contain files within a file, such as PDF Portfolio files, or an interactive or fillable .PDF file. Any attachments uploaded that are not .PDF files or are password protected files will not be read. If you need assistance converting your files to a .pdf format, please refer to the following Grants.gov webpage with links to conversion programs under the heading of additional resources: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/applicant-resources.html

2. Grants.gov cannot process an application that includes two or more files that have the same name within a grant submission. Therefore, each file uploaded to your application package must have a unique file name.

3. When attaching files, applicants should follow the guidelines established by Grants.gov on the size and content of file names. Uploaded filenames must be less than 50 characters, contain no spaces, no special characters (example: -, &, *, %, /, #, \) including periods (.), blank spaces and accent marks. Applications submitted that do not comply with the Grants.gov guidelines will be rejected at Grants.gov and not forwarded to the Department.

4. Applicants should limit the size of their file attachments. Documents submitted that contain graphics and/or scanned material often greatly increase the size of the file attachments and can result in difficulties opening the files. For reference, the average discretionary grant application package totals 1 to 2 MB. Therefore, you may want to check the total size of your package before submission.

*Please note that the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) was replaced by the System for Award Management (SAM) effective July 30, 2012. For more information on the migration of CCR data to SAM, grant applicants should read this information located on Grants.gov:

http://grants-gov.blogspot.com/2012/07/information-about-pending-migration.html#!/2012/07/information-about-pending-migration.html.

Application Transmittal Instructions

ATTENTION ELECTRONIC APPLICANTS: Please note that you must follow the Application Procedures as described in the Federal Register notice announcing the grant competition.

This program requires the electronic submission of applications; specific requirements and waiver instructions can be found in the Federal Register notice.

According to the instructions found in the Federal Register notice, those requesting and qualifying for an exception to the electronic submission requirement may submit an application by mail, commercial carrier or by hand delivery.

If you want to apply for a grant and be considered for funding, you must meet the following deadline requirements:

Applications Submitted Electronically:

You must submit your grant application through the Internet using the software provided on Grants.gov Web site (http://www.grants.gov) by 4:30:00 p.m. (Washington, D.C. time) on or before the deadline date.

If you submit your application through the Internet via the Grants.gov Web site, you will receive an automatic acknowledgement when we receive your application.

For more information on using e-Application, please refer to the “Notice Inviting Applications” that was published in the Federal Register or visit http://www. grants.gov.

Submission of Paper Applications by Mail:

If you submit your application in paper format by mail (through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier), you must mail the original and two copies of your application, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education

Application Control Center

Attention: (CFDA Numbers 84.031N&W)

LBJ Basement Level 1

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202-4260

You must show proof of mailing consisting of one of the following:

(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark.

(2) A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the U.S. Postal Service.

(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial carrier.

(4) Any other proof of mailing acceptable to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

If you mail your application through the U.S. Postal Service, we do not accept either of the following as proof of mailing:

(1) A private metered postmark.

(2) A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.

If your application is postmarked after the application deadline date, we will not consider your application.

Note: The U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly provide a dated postmark. Before relying on this method, you should check with your local post office.

Submission of Paper Applications by Hand Delivery:

If you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, you (or a courier service) may deliver your paper application to the Department by hand. You must deliver the original and two copies of your application by hand, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education

Application Control Center

Attention: (CFDA Numbers 84.031N&W)

550 12th Street, SW.

Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza

Washington, DC 20202-4260

The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of Paper Applications: If you mail or hand deliver your application to the Department--

(1) You must indicate on the envelope and--if not provided by the Department--in Item 11 of the SF 424 the CFDA number, including suffix letter, if any, of the competition under which you are submitting your application; and

(2) The Application Control Center will mail to you a notification of receipt of your grant application. If you do not receive this notification within 15 business days from the application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.

Late Applications

If your application is late, we will notify you that we will not consider the application.

Notice Inviting Applications

4000-01-U

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Applications for New Awards Under Title III, Part A, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH) Program

AGENCY: Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice.

Overview Information:

Title III, Part A, Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNH) Program Notice inviting applications for new awards for fiscal year (FY) 2014.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Numbers: 84.031W and 84.031N.

Dates:

Applications Available: April 16, 2014.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 2, 2014.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 4, 2014.

Full Text of Announcement

I. Funding Opportunity Description

Purpose of Program: The Title III, Part A, ANNH program is authorized under Section 317 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended to provide grants to eligible institutions of higher education (IHEs) to enable them to improve and expand their capacity to serve Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians under either a five-year Development grant or a five-year Cooperative Arrangement grant, or both, to carry-out allowable activities to improve their academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability in order to increase their self-sufficiency and strengthen their capacity to make a substantial contribution to the higher education resources of the Nation. Institutions may use these grants to plan, develop, or implement activities that promise to strengthen the institution.

Priorities: This notice contains two competitive preference priorities from the Department of Education(Department)notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs, published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2010 (75 FR 78486), and corrected on May 12, 2011 (76 FR 27637). This notice contains one invitational priorities approved by the Department.

Competitive Preference Priorities: For FY 2014 and any subsequent year in which we make awards from the list of unfunded applicants from this competition, these priorities are competitive preference priorities. Under 34 CFR 75.105(c)(2)(i), we award up to two points for each competitive preference priority for an additional four points total to an application, depending on how well the application meets these priorities.

These priorities are:

Competitive Preference Priority 1--Increasing Postsecondary Success: College Completion (2 points).

Projects that are designed to address the following priority area: increasing the number and proportion of high-need students (as defined in this notice) who persist in and complete college or other postsecondary education and training.

Note: In responding to this priority, applicants are encouraged to discuss how all strategies they propose to carry out would improve postsecondary success.

Competitive Preference Priority 2--Improving Productivity.

Projects that are designed to significantly increase efficiency in the use of time, staff, money, or other resources while improving student learning or other educational outcomes (i.e., outcome per unit of resource). Such projects may include innovative and sustainable uses of technology, modification of school schedules and teacher compensation systems, use of open educational resources (as defined in this notice), or other strategies.

Note: The types of projects identified in Competitive Preference Priority 2 are suggestions for ways to improve productivity. The Department recognizes that some of these examples, such as modification of teacher compensation systems, may not be relevant to this program. Accordingly, applicants should consider responding to this competitive preference priority in a way that improves productivity in a relevant higher education context.

Invitational Priorities: For FY 2014 the Department is encouraging applicants to address the invitational priority. The priority is:

Invitational Priority 1—Support Activities that strengthen Native language preservation and revitalization at our institutions of higher education.

NOTE: There are no additional points awarded for the invitational priority.

Definitions:

The following definitions are from the notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2010 (75 FR 78486), and corrected on May 12, 2011 (76 FR 27637), and apply to the priorities in this notice:

High-need children and high-need students means children and students at risk of educational failure, such as children and students who are living in poverty, who are English learners, who are far below grade level or who are not on track to becoming college- or career-ready by graduation, who have left school or college before receiving, respectively, a regular high school diploma or a college degree or certificate, who are at risk of not graduating with a diploma on time, who are homeless, who are in foster care, who are pregnant or parenting teenagers, who have been incarcerated, who are new immigrants, who are migrant, or who have disabilities.

Open educational resources (OER) means teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or repurposing by others.

Privacy requirements means the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C 1232g, and its implementing regulations in 34 CFR part 99, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, as well as all applicable Federal, State, and local requirements regarding privacy.

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1057–1059d and 1067q.

Applicable Regulations: (a) The Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in 34 CFR parts 74, 75, 77, 79, 82, 84, 85, and 86. (b) The regulations for this program in 34 CFR part 607. (c) The notice of final supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs, published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2010 (75 FR 78486), and corrected on May 12, 2011 (76 FR 27637).

Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 79 apply to all applicants except federally recognized Indian tribes.

Note: The regulations in 34 CFR part 86 apply to institutions of higher education only.

Note: The eligibility criteria for this competition, including the enrollment of needy students and expenditure provisions, are set forth in section III. 1. Eligible Applicants of this notice. The tie-breaker provisions are set in section V. 3. Tie-breaker for Grants of this notice.

II. Award Information

Type of Award: Discretionary grants. Five-year Individual Development Grants and/or Five-year Cooperative Arrangement Grants will be awarded in FY 2014.

Estimated Available Funds: $2,259,000

Contingent upon the availability of funds and the quality of applications, we may make additional awards in FY 2014 from the list of unfunded applicants from this competition.

Estimated Range of Awards: $700,000 - $1,000,000 per year.

Maximum Award: We will reject any application that proposes a budget exceeding $1,000,000 for a single budget period of 12 months. The Assistant Secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education may change the maximum amount through a notice published in the Federal Register.

Estimated Number of Awards: 3.

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

Project Period: Up to 60 months.

III. Eligibility Information

1. Eligible Applicants: This program is authorized by Title III, Part A, of the HEA. An IHE that qualifies as an eligible institution under the ANNH programs may apply for grants under this notice. At the time of application, an Alaska Native-Serving Institution must have an enrollment of undergraduate students that is at least 20 percent Alaska Native. 34 CFR 607.2(e). At the time of application, a Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution must have an enrollment of undergraduate students that is at least 10 percent Native Hawaiian. 34 CFR 607.2(f). To qualify as an eligible institution under any Title III, Part A program, an institution must --

(1) Be accredited or preaccredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association that the Secretary has determined to be a reliable authority as to the quality of education or training offered;

(2) Be legally authorized by the State in which it is located to be a junior college or to provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's degree;

(3) Be designated as an “eligible institution” by demonstrating that it: A) has an enrollment of needy students as described in 34 CFR 607.3; and B) has low average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent (FTE) undergraduate student, as described in 34 CFR 607.4.

Note: For purposes of establishing eligibility for this competition, the Notice Inviting Applications for Designation as Eligible Institutions for FY 2014 was published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2014, and the deadline for submission of the designation of eligibility application was March 14, 2014. Only institutions that submitted the required application and received designation through this process are eligible to submit applications for this competition.

Relationship between Title III, Part A and Part F, and Title V Programs.

Note 1: Title III, Part A and Title V, - A current grantee under the Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) program which is authorized under Title V of the HEA, may not receive a grant under any HEA, Title III, Part A program.

Note 2: Title III, Part A - current grantee under the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI) program, Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI) program, and the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian (ANNH) program which is authorized under Title III, Part A Section 311 of the HEA, may not receive a grant authorized under any other Title III, Part A program under Section 311.

Note 3: Title III, Part F - A current grantee applying under the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI), Hispanic Serving Institutions–STEM and Articulation (HSI-STEM), Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI) programs, and the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian (ANNH) program authorized by Title III, Part F, Section 371 of the HEA, may not receive a grant authorized under any other Title III, Part F program under Section 371.

Note 4: Title III, Part A, Part F and HSI-Stem - An eligible IHE may submit and receive one Title III, Part A grant and one Title III, Part F grant, which also include the Title III, Part F HSI-Stem Program, simultaneously for which it is eligible to apply.

Note 5: Title V, Title III, Part F and Part F, HSI-Stem - An eligible IHE may submit and receive one Title V grant and one Title III, Part F grant, which also include the Title III, Part F HSI-Stem Program, simultaneously for which it is eligible to apply.

Note 6: Individual Development Grant and Cooperative Arrangement Grant - An eligible IHE that submits more than one application, an individual development grant and a cooperative arrangement grant, may be awarded both an individual development grant and a cooperative arrangement grant in the same fiscal year. However, we will not award a second cooperative arrangement grant to an otherwise eligible IHE for the same award year as the IHE’s existing cooperative arrangement grant award.

2. a. Cost Sharing or Matching: This program does not require cost sharing or matching.

b. Supplement-Not-Supplant: This program involves supplement-not-supplant funding requirements. Grant funds shall be used so that they supplement and, to the extent practical, increase the funds that would otherwise be available for the activities to be carried out under the grant and in no case supplant those funds (34 CFR 607.30 (b)).

IV. Application and Submission Information

1. Address to Request Application Package: You can obtain an application via the Internet using the following address: http://Grants.gov. If you do not have access to the Internet, please contact LaTonya Brown, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 6029, Washington, DC 20006-8513. Telephone: (202) 502-7619; or, by e-mail: [email protected].

If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS), toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.

Individuals with disabilities can obtain a copy of the application package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the program contact person listed in this section.

2. Content and Form of Application Submission: Requirements concerning the content of an application, together with the forms you must submit, are in the application package for this program.

Page Limits: The application narrative (Part III of the application) is where you, the applicant, address the selection criteria. The Competitive Preference Priorities and Invitational Priorities will be uploaded in the “Other/CPP” section and the “Other/IP” section, which you will be permitted only five additional pages for each section. We have established mandatory page limits for the Individual Development Grant and Cooperative Arrangement Grant applications. You must limit the application narrative (Part III) to no more than 50 pages for the Individual Development Grant; and 70 pages for cooperative arrangement grants.

Note: Please include a separate heading when responding to the ALL priorities. For the purpose of determining compliance with the page limit, each page on which there are words will be counted at one full page. Applicants must use the following standards.

• A “page” is 8.5” x 11”, on one side only, with 1” margins at the top, bottom, and both sides. Page numbers and an identifier may be outside the 1” margin.

• Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) all text in the application narrative, except titles, headings, footnotes, quotations, references, captions and all text in charts, tables, figures, and graphs. Charts, tables, figures, and graphs in the application narrative may be single spaced and will count toward the page limit.

• Use a font that is either 12 point or larger, and no smaller than 10 pitch (characters per inch).

• Use one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Courier, Courier New, or Arial. An applications submitted in any other font (including Times Roman and Arial Narrow) will not be accepted.

The page limit does not apply to Part I, the Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424); the Supplemental Information for SF-424 Form required by the Department of Education; Part II, the Budget section, Budget Information Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), (not including the narrative budget justification—which is a part of the application narrative section Part III); Part IV, the assurances and certifications; or the one-page program abstract, the resumes, the bibliography, or the letters of support. However, the page limit does apply to all of the application narrative section (Part III), including the budget responses of the selection criteria and the “Other/CPP” section and “Other/IP” section for the priorities.

Note: Each of the Priority sections (Other/CPP and Other/IP) will be permitted no more than five additional pages. If you include more than five pages under each section, we will reject your application.

If you include any attachments or appendices not specifically requested in the application package, these items will be counted as part of your application narrative (Part III) for the purpose of the page limit requirement. You must include your complete response to the selection criteria in the application narrative.

Note: The Budget Information-Non-Construction Programs Form (ED 524) Sections A-C are not the same as the narrative response to the Budget selection of the selection criteria. The supporting narrative for the activity detail budget form lists the requested budget line items line by line.

We will reject your application if you exceed the page limit.

3. Submission Dates and Times:

Applications Available: April 16, 2014.

Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: June 2, 2014.

Applications for grants under this competition must be submitted electronically using the Grants.gov Apply site (Grants.gov). For information (including dates and times) about how to submit your application electronically, or in paper format by mail or hand delivery if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, please refer to section IV. 7. Other Submission Requirements of this notice.

We do not consider an application that does not comply with the deadline requirements.

Individuals with disabilities who need an accommodation or auxiliary aid in connection with the application process should contact the person listed under For Further Information Contact in section VII of this notice. If the Department provides an accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability in connection with the application process, the individual's application remains subject to all other requirements and limitations in this notice.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: August 4, 2014.

4. Intergovernmental Review: This program is subject to Executive Order 12372 and the regulations in 34 CFR part 79. Information about Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs under Executive Order 12372 is in the application package for these programs.

5. Funding Restrictions: We specify limitations on allowable costs in 34 CFR 607.30. We reference additional regulations outlining funding restrictions in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice.

Applicability of Executive Order 13202. Applicants that apply for construction funds under the Title III, Part A programs, must comply with Executive Order 13202 signed by former President George W. Bush on February 17, 2001, and amended on April 6, 2001. This Executive Order provides that recipients of Federal construction funds may not “require or prohibit bidders, offerors, contractors, or subcontractors to enter into or adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations, on the same or other construction project(s)” or “otherwise discriminate against bidders, offerors, contractors, or subcontractors for becoming or refusing to become or remain signatories or otherwise adhere to agreements with one or more labor organizations, on the same or other construction project(s).” However, the Executive Order does not prohibit contractors or subcontractors from voluntarily entering into these agreements. Projects funded under these programs that include construction activity will be provided a copy of this Executive Order and will be asked to certify that they will adhere to it.

6. Data Universal Numbering System Number, Taxpayer Identification Number, and Central Contractor Registry: To do business with the Department of Education, you must--

a. Have a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number and a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN);

b. Register both your DUNS number and TIN with the Central Contractor Registry (CCR), and after July 24, 2012, with the System for Award Management (SAM)--the Government’s primary registrant database;

c. Provide your DUNS number and TIN on your application; and

d. Maintain an active CCR or SAM registration with current information while your application is under review by the Department and, if you are awarded a grant, during the project period.

You can obtain a DUNS number from Dun and Bradstreet. A DUNS number can be created within one business day.

If you are a corporate entity, agency, institution, or organization, you can obtain a TIN from the Internal Revenue Service. If you are an individual, you can obtain a TIN from the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration. If you need a new TIN, please allow two to five weeks for your TIN to become active.

The CCR or SAM registration process may take five or more business days to complete. If you are currently registered with the CCR, you may not need to make any changes. However, please make certain that the TIN associated with your DUNS number is correct. Also note that you will need to update your registration annually. This may take three or more business days to complete. Information about SAM is available at SAM.gov. In addition, if you are submitting your application via Grants.gov, you must (1) be designated by your organization as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR); and (2) register yourself with Grants.gov as an AOR. Details on these steps are outlined at the following Grants.gov Web page: http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html).

7. Other Submission Requirements: Applications for grants under the ANNH programs must be submitted electronically unless you qualify for an exception to this requirement in accordance with the instructions in this section.

a. Electronic Submission of Applications.

Applications for grants under the Alaska Native-Serving Institutions Program (CFDA number 84.031N) and the Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Program (CFDA number 84.031W) must be submitted electronically using the Government wide Grants.gov Apply site at www.grants.gov. Through this site, you will be able to download a copy of the application package, complete it offline, and then upload and submit your application. You may not e-mail an electronic copy of a grant application to us.

We will reject your application if you submit it in paper format unless, as described elsewhere in this section, you qualify for one of the exceptions to the electronic submission requirement and submit, no later than two weeks before the application deadline date, a written statement to the Department that you qualify for one of these exceptions. Further information regarding calculation of the date that is two weeks before the application deadline date is provided later in this section under Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement.

You may access the electronic grant application for this competition at www.Grants.gov. You must search for the downloadable application package for this program by the CFDA number. Do not include the CFDA number’s alpha suffix in your search (e.g., search for 84.031, not 84.031N).

Please note the following:

• When you enter the Grants.gov site, you will find information about submitting an application electronically through the site, as well as the hours of operation.

• Applications received by Grants.gov are date and time stamped. Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted and must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Except as otherwise noted in this section, we will not accept your application if it is received--that is, date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system--after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We do not consider an application that does not comply with the deadline requirements. When we retrieve your application from Grants.gov, we will notify you if we are rejecting your application because it was date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date.

• The amount of time it can take to upload an application will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the size of the application and the speed of your Internet connection. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you do not wait until the application deadline date to begin the submission process through Grants.gov.

• You should review and follow the Education Submission Procedures for submitting an application through Grants.gov that are included in the application package for this competition to ensure that you submit your application in a timely manner to the Grants.gov system. You can also find the Education Submission Procedures pertaining to Grants.gov under News and Events on the Department’s G5 system home page at http://www.G5.gov.

• You will not receive additional point value because you submit your application in electronic format, nor will we penalize you if you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, as described elsewhere in this section, and submit your application in paper format.

• You must submit all documents electronically, including all information you typically provide on the following forms: the Application for Federal Assistance (SF 424), the Department of Education Supplemental Information for SF 424, Budget Information--Non-Construction Programs (ED 524), and all necessary assurances and certifications.

• You must upload any narrative sections and all other attachments to your application as files in a PDF (Portable Document) read-only, non-modifiable format. Do not upload an interactive or fillable PDF file. If you upload a file type other than a read-only, non-modifiable PDF or submit a password-protected file, we will not review that material.

• Your electronic application must comply with any page-limit requirements described in this notice.

• After you electronically submit your application, you will receive from Grants.gov an automatic notification of receipt that contains a Grants.gov tracking number. (This notification indicates receipt by Grants.gov only, not receipt by the Department.) The Department then will retrieve your application from Grants.gov and send a second notification to you by e-mail. This second notification indicates that the Department has received your application and has assigned your application a PR/Award number (an ED-specified identifying number unique to your application).

• We may request that you provide us original signatures on forms at a later date.

Application Deadline Date Extension in Case of Technical Issues with the Grants.gov System: If you are experiencing problems submitting your application through Grants.gov, please contact the Grants.gov Support Desk, toll free, at 1-800-518-4726. You must obtain a Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number and must keep a record of it.

If you are prevented from electronically submitting your application on the application deadline date because of technical problems with the Grants.gov system, we will grant you an extension until 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, the following business day to enable you to transmit your application electronically or by hand delivery. You also may mail your application by following the mailing instructions described elsewhere in this notice.

If you submit an application after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date, please contact the person listed under For Further Information Contact in section VII of this notice and provide an explanation of the technical problem you experienced with Grants.gov, along with the Grants.gov Support Desk Case Number. We will accept your application if we can confirm that a technical problem occurred with the Grants.gov system and that problem affected your ability to submit your application by 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. The Department will contact you after a determination is made on whether your application will be accepted.

Note: The extensions to which we refer in this section apply only to the unavailability of, or technical problems with, the Grants.gov system. We will not grant you an extension if you failed to fully register to submit your application to Grants.gov before the application deadline date and time or if the technical problem you experienced is unrelated to the Grants.gov system.

Exception to Electronic Submission Requirement: You qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, and may submit your application in paper format, if you are unable to submit an application through the Grants.gov system because––

• You do not have access to the Internet; or

• You do not have the capacity to upload large documents to the Grants.gov system;

and

• No later than two weeks before the application deadline date (14 calendar days or, if the fourteenth calendar day before the application deadline date falls on a Federal holiday, the next business day following the Federal holiday), you mail or fax a written statement to the Department, explaining which of the two grounds for an exception prevent you from using the Internet to submit your application.

If you mail your written statement to the Department, it must be postmarked no later than two weeks before the application deadline date. If you fax your written statement to the Department, we must receive the faxed statement no later than two weeks before the application deadline date.

Address and mail or fax your statement to: LaTonya Brown, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 6029, Washington, DC 20006-8513. FAX: (202) 502-7861.

Your paper application must be submitted in accordance with the mail or hand delivery instructions described in this notice.

b. Submission of Paper Applications by Mail.

If you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, you may mail (through the U.S. Postal Service or a commercial carrier) your application to the Department. You must mail the original and two copies of your application, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education

Application Control Center

Attention: (CFDA Number 84.031N or 84.031W)

LBJ Basement Level I

400 Maryland Avenue, SW.

Washington, DC 20202-4260

You must show proof of mailing consisting of one of the following:

(1) A legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark.

(2) A legible mail receipt with the date of mailing stamped by the U.S. Postal Service.

(3) A dated shipping label, invoice, or receipt from a commercial carrier.

(4) Any other proof of mailing acceptable to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.

If you mail your application through the U.S. Postal Service, we do not accept either of the following as proof of mailing:

(1) A private metered postmark.

(2) A mail receipt that is not dated by the U.S. Postal Service.

If your application is postmarked after the application deadline date, we will not consider your application.

Note: The U.S. Postal Service does not uniformly provide a dated postmark. Before relying on this method, you should check with your local post office.

c. Submission of Paper Applications by Hand Delivery.

If you qualify for an exception to the electronic submission requirement, you (or a courier service) may deliver your paper application to the Department by hand. You must deliver the original and two copies of your application, by hand, on or before the application deadline date, to the Department at the following address:

U.S. Department of Education

Application Control Center

Attention: (CFDA Number 84.031N or 84.031W)

550 12th Street, SW.

Room 7041, Potomac Center Plaza

Washington, DC 20202-4260

The Application Control Center accepts hand deliveries daily between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, except Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

Note for Mail or Hand Delivery of Paper Applications: If you mail or hand deliver your application to the Department--

(1) You must indicate on the envelope and -- if not provided by the Department -- in Item 11 of the SF 424 the CFDA number, including suffix letter, if any, of the competition under which you are submitting your application; and

(2) The Application Control Center will mail to you a notification of receipt of your grant application. If you do not receive this notification within 15 business days from the application deadline date, you should call the U.S. Department of Education Application Control Center at (202) 245-6288.

V. Application Review Information

1. Selection Criteria: The selection criteria for these programs are in 34 CFR 607.22,(a) through (g). Applicants must address each of the following selection criteria (separately for each proposed activity). The total weight of the selection criteria is 100 points; the maximum score for each criterion is noted in parentheses.

(a) Quality of the Applicant’s Comprehensive Development Plan (Maximum 25 Points).

(b) Quality of Activity Objectives (Maximum 15 Points).

(c) Quality of Implementation Strategy (Maximum 20 Points).

(d) Quality of Key Personnel (Maximum 7 Points).

(e) Quality of Project Management Plan (Maximum 10 Points).

(f) Quality of Evaluation Plan (Maximum 15 Points).

(g) Budget (Maximum 8 Points).

2. Review and Selection Process: We remind potential applicants that in reviewing applications in any discretionary grant competition, the Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR 75.217(d)-(3), the past performance of the applicant in carrying out a previous award, such as the applicant’s use of funds, achievement of project objectives, and compliance with grant conditions. The Secretary may also consider whether the applicant failed to submit a timely performance report or submitted a report of unacceptable quality.

In addition, in making a competitive grant award, the Secretary also requires various assurances including those applicable to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department of Education (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).

Awards will be made in rank order according to the average score received from an evaluation performed by a panel of three non-Federal reviewers. A rank order funding slate will be made that includes scores for competitive preference priorities 1 and 3. Tie-breaker for Development Grants. In tie-breaking situations for development grants, 34 CFR 607.23(b) requires that additional points be awarded to any applicants that: (1) have an endowment fund of which the current market value, per full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolled student, is less than the average current market value of the endowment funds, per FTE enrolled student at comparable institutions that offer similar instruction; (2) have expenditures for library materials per FTE enrolled student that are less than the average expenditures per FTE enrolled student at comparable institutions that offer similar instruction; or (3) that propose to carry out one or more of the following activities—

(1) Faculty development;

(2) Funds and administrative management;

(3) Development and improvement of academic programs;

(4) Acquisition of equipment for use in strengthening management and academic programs;

(5) Joint use of facilities; and

(6) Student services.

For the purpose of these funding considerations, we use 2011-2012 data.

If a tie remains after applying the tie-breaker mechanism above, priority will be given in the case of applicants for: a) individual development grants to applicants that have the lowest endowment values per FTE student; and b) cooperative arrangement development grants to applicants in accordance with section 394(b) of the HEA, if the Secretary determines that the cooperative arrangement is geographically and economically sound or will benefit the applicant institution.

4. Special Conditions: Under 34 CFR 74.14, 80.12, the Secretary may impose special conditions on a grant if the applicant or grantee is not financially stable; has a history of unsatisfactory performance; has a financial or other management system that does not meet the standards in 34 CFR parts 74 or 80, as applicable; has not fulfilled the conditions of a prior grant (34 CFR 607.24); or, is otherwise not responsible.

VI. Award Administration Information

1. Award Notices: If your application is successful, we notify your U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators and send you a Grant Award Notification (GAN). We may also notify you informally.

If your application is not evaluated or not selected for funding, we notify you.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements: We identify administrative and national policy requirements in the application package and reference these and other requirements in the Applicable Regulations section in this notice.

We reference the regulations outlining the terms and conditions of an award in the Applicable Regulations section of this notice and include these and other specific conditions in the GAN. The GAN also incorporates your approved application as part of your binding commitments under the grant.

3. Reporting: (a) If you apply for a grant under this competition, you must ensure that you have in place the necessary processes and systems to comply with the reporting requirements in 2 CFR part 170 should you receive funding under the competition. This does not apply if you have an exception under 2 CFR 170.110(b).

(b) At the end of your project period, you must submit a final performance report, including financial information, as directed by the Secretary. If you receive a multi-year award, you must submit an annual performance report that provides the most current performance and financial expenditure information as directed by the Secretary in 34 CFR 75.118 and 34 CFR 607.31. The Secretary may also require more frequent performance reports under 34 CFR 75.720(c). For specific requirements on reporting, please go to www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/appforms/appforms.html.

4. Performance Measures: The Secretary has established the following key performance measures for assessing the effectiveness of the Strengthening Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Programs:

a. The percentage change, over the five-year period, of the number of full-time degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled at Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions. Note that this is a long-term measure, which will be used to periodically gauge performance, beginning in FY 2009.

b. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at 4-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution;

c. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at 2-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institution;

d. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at 4-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions graduating within 6 years of enrollment; and

e. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate students enrolled at 2-year Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions graduating within 3 years of enrollment.

5. Continuation Awards: In making a continuation award, the Secretary may consider, under 34 CFR 607.31, the extent to which a grantee has made “substantial progress toward achieving the objectives set forth in its grant application, including, if applicable, the institution’s success in institutionalizing practices and improvements developed under the grant.” This consideration includes the review of a grantee’s progress in meeting the targets and projected outcomes in its approved application, and whether the grantee has expended funds in a manner that is consistent with its approved application and budget. In making a continuation grant, the Secretary also considers whether the grantee is operating in compliance with the assurances in its approved application, including those applicable to Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance from the Department (34 CFR 100.4, 104.5, 106.4, 108.8, and 110.23).

VII. Agency Contacts

For Further Information Contact: LaTonya Brown, U.S. Department of Education, 1990 K Street, NW., room 6029, Washington, DC 20006-8513. Telephone: (202) 502-7619; or, by e-mail: [email protected].

If you use a TDD or a TTY, call the FRS, toll free, at 1-800-877-8339.

VIII. Other Information

Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document and a copy of the application package in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the program contact person listed under For Further Information Contact in section VII of this notice.

Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available via the Federal Digital System at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well as all other documents of this Department published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free at this site.

You may also access documents of the Department published in the Federal Register by using the article search feature at: www.federalregister.gov. Specifically through the advanced search feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published by the Department.

Delegation of Authority: The Secretary of Education has delegated authority to Brenda Dann-Messier, Acting Assistant

Secretary for for Postsecondary Education.

Dated:

/S/

___________________________

Brenda Dann-Messier,

Acting Assistant Secretary

for Postsecondary Education.

Program Statute

HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED

TITLE III---INSTITUTIONAL AID

 SEC. 301. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

(a) FINDINGS. --The Congress finds that--

(1) there are a significant number of institutions of higher education serving high percentages of minority students and students from low-income backgrounds, that face problems that threaten their ability to survive;

(2) the problems relate to the management and fiscal operations of certain institutions of higher education, as well as to an inability to engage in long-range planning and development activities, including endowment building;

(3) in order to be competitive and provide a high-quality education for all, institutions of higher education should improve their technological capacity and make effective use of technology;

(4) the title III program prior to 1985 did not always meet the specific development needs of historically Black colleges and universities and other institutions with large concentrations of minority, low-income students;

(5) the solution of the problems of these institutions would enable them to become viable, fiscally stable and independent, thriving institutions of higher education;

(6) providing assistance to eligible institutions will enhance the role of such institutions in providing access and quality education to low-income and minority students;

(7) these institutions play an important role in the American system of higher education, and there is a strong national interest in assisting them in solving their problems and in stabilizing their management and fiscal operations, and in becoming financially independent; and

(8) there is a particular national interest in aiding those institutions of higher education that have historically served students who have been denied access to postsecondary education because of race or national origin and whose participation in the American system of higher education is in the Nation’s

interest so that equality of access and quality of postsecondary education opportunities may be enhanced for all students.

(b) PURPOSE. --It is the purpose of this title to assist such institutions in equalizing educational opportunity through a program of Federal assistance.

 

PART A STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS

 

SEC. 312. DEFINITIONS; ELIGIBILITY.

(a) EDUCATIONAL AND GENERAL EXPENDITURES. -- For the purpose of this part, the term “educational and general expenditures” means the total amount expended by an institution of higher education for instruction, research, public service, academic support (including library expenditures), student services, institutional support, scholarships and fellowships, operation and maintenance expenditures for the physical plant, and any mandatory transfers which the institution is required to pay by law.

(b) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION. -- For the purpose of this part, the term “eligible institution” means --

(1) an institution of higher education--

(A) which has an enrollment of needy students as required by subsection (c) of this section;

(B) except as provided in section 392(b), the average educational and general expenditures of which are low, per full-time equivalent undergraduate student, in comparison with the average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent undergraduate student of institutions that offer similar instruction;

(C) which is

(i) legally authorized to provide, and provides within the State, an educational program for which such institution awards a bachelor’s degree;

(ii) a junior or community college; or

(iii) the College of the Marshall Islands, the College of Micronesia/Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau Community College;

(D) which is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association determined by the Secretary to be reliable authority as to the quality of training offered or which is, according to such an agency or association, making reasonable progress toward accreditation;

(E) which meets such other requirements as the Secretary may prescribe; and

(F) located in a State; and

(2) any branch of any institution of higher education described under paragraph (1) which by itself satisfies the requirements contained in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of such paragraph.

For purposes of the determination of whether an institution is an eligible institution under this paragraph, the factor described under paragraph (1)(A) shall be given twice the weight of the factor described under paragraph (1)(B).

(c) ENDOWMENT FUND.-- For the purpose of this part, the term ‘‘endowment fund” means a fund that--

(1) is established by State law, by an institution of higher education, or by a foundation that is exempt from Federal income taxation;

(2) is maintained for the purpose of generating income for the support of the institution; and

(3) does not include real estate.

(d) ENROLLMENT OF NEEDY STUDENTS. -- For the purpose of this part, the term “enrollment of needy students” means an enrollment at an institution of higher education or a junior or community college which includes--

(1)   at least 50 percent of the degree students so enrolled who are receiving need-based assistance under title IV of this Act in the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which the determination is being made (other than loans for which an interest subsidy is paid pursuant to section 428), or

(2)   a substantial percentage of students receiving Pell Grants in the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which determination is being made, in comparison with the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants at all such institutions in the second fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for

which the determination is made, unless the requirement of this subdivision is waived under section 392(a).

(e) FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT STUDENTS. For the purpose of this part, the term “full-time equivalent students” means the sum of the number of students enrolled full time at an institution, plus the full-time equivalent of the number of students enrolled part time (determined on the basis of the quotient of the sum of the credit hours of all part-time students divided by 12) at such institution.

(f) JUNIOR OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE.--For the purpose of this part, the term “junior or community college” means an institution of higher education--

(1) that admits as regular students persons who are beyond the age of compulsory school attendance in the State in which the institution is located and who have the ability to benefit from the training offered by the institution;

(2) that does not provide an educational program for which it awards a bachelor’s degree (or an equivalent degree); and

(3) that--

(A) provides an educational program of not less than 2 years that is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree, or

(B) offers a 2-year program in engineering, mathematics, or the physical or biological sciences, designed to prepare a student to work as a technician or at the semiprofessional level in engineering, scientific, or other technological fields requiring the understanding and application of basic engineering, scientific, or mathematical principles of knowledge.

(g) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.--For the purposes of this section, no historically black college or university which is eligible for and receives funds under part B of this title is eligible for or may receive funds under this part.

 

SEC. 313. DURATION OF GRANT.

(a) AWARD PERIOD.--The Secretary may award a grant to an eligible institution under this part for 5 years.

(b) LIMITATIONS.--In awarding grants under this part the Secretary shall give priority to applicants who are not already receiving a grant under this part, except that for the purpose of this subsection a grant under subsection (c) and a grant under section 394(a)(1) shall not be considered a grant under this part.

(c) PLANNING GRANTS.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), the Secretary may award a grant to an eligible institution under this part for a period of one year for the purpose of preparation of plans and applications for a grant under this part.

(d) WAIT-OUT-PERIOD.--Each eligible institution that received a grant under this part for a 5-year period shall not be eligible to receive an additional grant under this part until 2 years after the date on which the 5-year grant period terminates.

 

SEC. 314. APPLICATIONS.

Each eligible institution desiring to receive assistance under this part shall submit an application in accordance with the requirements of section 391.

 

SEC. 315. GOALS FOR FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND ACADEMIC PROGRAM.

(a) GOALS.-- Any application for a grant under this part shall describe measurable goals for the institution’s financial management and academic programs, and include a plan of how the applicant intends to achieve those goals.

(b) CONTINUATION REQUIREMENTS. -- Any continuation application shall demonstrate the progress made toward achievement of the goals described pursuant to subsection (a).

SEC. 317. ALASKA NATIVE AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN-SERVING INSTITUTIONS.

(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. -- The Secretary shall provide grants and related assistance to Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions to enable such institutions to improve and expand their capacity to serve Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians.

(b) DEFINITIONS.-- For the purpose of this section--(1) the term “Alaska Native” has the meaning given the term in section 9308 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;

(2) the term “Alaska Native-serving institution” means an institution of higher education that--

(A) is an eligible institution under section 312(b); and (B) at the time of application, has an enrollment of undergraduate students that is at least 20 percent Alaska Native students;

(3) the term “Native Hawaiian” has the meaning given the term in section 9212 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and

(4) the term “Native Hawaiian-serving institution” means an institution of higher education which--

(A) is an eligible institution under section 312(b); and (B) at the time of application, has an enrollment of undergraduate students that is at least 10 percent Native Hawaiian students.

(c) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.--

(1) TYPES OF ACTIVITIES AUTHORIZED.-- Grants awarded under this section shall be used by Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions to assist such institutions to plan, develop, undertake, and carry out activities to improve and expand such institutions’ capacity to serve Alaska Natives or Native Hawaiians.

(2) EXAMPLES OF AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES. -- Such programs may include--

(A) purchase, rental, or lease of scientific or laboratory equipment for educational purposes, including instructional and research purposes;

(B) renovation and improvement in classroom, library, laboratory, and other instructional facilities;

(C) support of faculty exchanges, and faculty development and faculty fellowships to assist in attaining advanced degrees in the faculty’s field of instruction;

(D) curriculum development and academic instruction;

(E) purchase of library books, periodicals, microfilm, and other educational materials;

(F) funds and administrative management, and acquisition of equipment for use in strengthening funds management;

(G) joint use of facilities such as laboratories and libraries;

and

(H) academic tutoring and counseling programs and student support services.

(d) APPLICATION PROCESS.--

(1) INSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY.-- Each Alaska Native-serving institution and Native Hawaiian-serving institution desiring to receive assistance under this section shall submit to the Secretary such enrollment data as may be necessary to demonstrate that the institution is an Alaska Native-serving institution

or a Native Hawaiian-serving institution as defined in subsection (b), along with such other information and data as the Secretary may by regulation require.

(2) APPLICATIONS.-- Any institution which is determined by the Secretary to be an Alaska Native-serving institution or a Native Hawaiian-serving institution may submit an application for assistance under this section to the Secretary. Such application shall include--

(A) a 5-year plan for improving the assistance provided by the Alaska Native-serving institution or the Native Hawaiian-serving institution to Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian students; and

(B) such other information and assurance as the Secretary may require.

(e) SPECIAL RULE.-- For the purposes of this section, no Alaska Native-serving institution or Native Hawaiian-serving institution which is eligible for and receives funds under this section may concurrently receive other funds under this part or part B.

  

PART F--GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

SEC. 391. APPLICATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE.

(a) APPLICATIONS.--(1) APPLICATIONS REQUIRED.-- Any institution which is eligible for assistance under this title shall submit to the Secretary an application for assistance at such time, in such form, and containing such information, as may be necessary to enable the Secretary to evaluate the institution’s need for the assistance. Subject to the availability of appropriations to carry out this title, the Secretary may approve an application for assistance under this title only if the Secretary determines that--

(A) the application meets the requirements of subsection (b);

(B) the applicant is eligible for assistance in accordance with the part of this title under which the assistance is sought; and

(C) the applicant’s performance goals are sufficiently rigorous as to meet the purposes of this title and the performance objectives and indicators for this title established by the Secretary pursuant to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and the amendments made by such Act.

(2) PRELIMINARY APPLICATIONS.-- In carrying out paragraph (1), the Secretary may develop a preliminary application for use by eligible institutions applying under part A prior to the submission of the principal application.

(b) CONTENTS.-- An institution, in its application for a grant, shall--

(1) set forth, or describe how the institution (other than an institution applying under part C, D or E) will develop, a comprehensive development plan to strengthen the institution’s academic quality and institutional management, and otherwise provide for institutional self-sufficiency and growth (including measurable objectives for the institution and the Secretary to use in monitoring the effectiveness of activities under this title);

(2) set forth policies and procedures to ensure that Federal funds made available under this title for any fiscal year will be used to supplement and, to the extent practical, increase the funds that would otherwise be made available for the purposes of section 311(b) or 323, and in no case supplant those funds;

(3) set forth policies and procedures for evaluating the effectiveness in accomplishing the purpose of the activities for which a grant is sought under this title;

(4) provide for such fiscal control and fund accounting procedures as may be necessary to ensure proper disbursement of and accounting for funds made available to the applicant under this title;

(5) provide (A) for making such reports, in such form and containing such information, as the Secretary may require to carry out the functions under this title, including not less than one report annually setting forth the institution’s progress toward achieving the objectives for which the funds were awarded, and (B) for keeping such records and affording such access thereto, as the Secretary may find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports;

(6) provide that the institution will comply with the limitations set forth in section 357, except that for purposes of section 316, paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 396 shall not apply;

(7) describe in a comprehensive manner any proposed project for which funds are sought under the application and include--

(A) a description of the various components of the proposed project, including the estimated time required to complete each such component;

(B) in the case of any development project which consists of several components (as described by the applicant pursuant to subparagraph (A)), a statement identifying those components which, if separately funded, would be sound investments of Federal funds and those components which would be sound investments of Federal funds only if funded under this title in conjunction with other parts of the development project (as specified by the applicant);

(C) an evaluation by the applicant of the priority given any proposed project for which funds are sought in relation to any other projects for which funds are sought by the applicant under this title, and a similar evaluation regarding priorities among the components of any single proposed project (as described by the applicant pursuant to subparagraph (A));

(D) a detailed budget showing the manner in which funds for any proposed project would be spent by the applicant; and

(E) a detailed description of any activity which involves the expenditure of more than $25,000, as identified in the budget referred to in subparagraph (E); and

(8) include such other information as the Secretary may prescribe.

(c) PRIORITY CRITERIA PUBLICATION REQUIRED.-- The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register, pursuant to chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, all policies and procedures required to exercise the authority set forth in subsection (a). No other criteria, policies, or procedures shall apply.

(d) ELIGIBILITY DATA.-- The Secretary shall use the most recent and relevant data concerning the number and percentage of students receiving need-based assistance under title IV of this Act in making eligibility determinations under section 312 and shall advance the base-year forward following each annual grant cycle.

Sec. 392. (20 U.S.C. 1068a) WAIVER AUTHORITY AND REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

(a) WAIVER REQUIREMENTS; NEED-BASED ASSISTANCE STUDENTS.--

The Secretary may waive the requirements set forth in section 312(b)(1)(A) in the case of an institution--

(1) which is extensively subsidized by the State in which it is located and charges low or no tuition;

(2) which serves a substantial number of low-income students as a percentage of its total student population;

(3) which is contributing substantially to increasing higher education opportunities for educationally disadvantaged, underrepresented, or minority students, who are low-income individuals;

(4) which is substantially increasing higher educational opportunities for individuals in rural or other isolated areas which are unserved by postsecondary institutions;

(5) located on or near an Indian reservation or a substantial population of Indians, if the Secretary determines that the waiver will substantially increase higher education opportunities appropriate to the needs of American Indians;

(6) that is a tribally controlled college or university as defined in section 2 of the Tribally Controlled College or University Assistance Act of 1978; or

(7) wherever located, if the Secretary determines that the waiver will substantially increase higher education opportunities appropriate to the needs of Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, or Pacific Islanders, including Native Hawaiians.

(b) WAIVER DETERMINATIONS; EXPENDITURES.-- (1) The Secretary may waive the requirements set forth in section 312(b)(1)(B) if the Secretary determines, based on persuasive evidence submitted by the institution, that the institution’s failure to meet that criterion is due to factors which, when used in the determination of compliance with such criterion, distort such determination, and that the institution’s designation as an eligible institution under part A is otherwise consistent with the purposes of such parts.

(2) The Secretary shall submit to the Congress every other year a report concerning the institutions which, although not satisfying the criterion contained in section 312(b)(1)(B), have been determined to be eligible institutions under part A institutions which enroll significant numbers of Black American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American, or Native Hawaiian students under part A, as the case may be. Such report shall--

(A) identify the factors referred to in paragraph (1) which were considered by the Secretary as factors that distorted the determination of compliance with subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 312(b)(1); and

(B) contain a list of each institution determined to be an eligible institution under part A including a statement of the reasons for each such determination.

(3) The Secretary may waive the requirement set forth in section 312(b)(1)(E) in the case of an institution located on or near an Indian reservation or a substantial population of Indians, if the Secretary determines that the waiver will substantially increase higher education opportunities appropriate to the needs of American Indians.

SEC. 393. APPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS.

(a) REVIEW PANEL.--(1) All applications submitted under this title by institutions of higher education shall be read by a panel of readers composed of individuals selected by the Secretary. The Secretary shall assure that no individual assigned under this section to review any application has any conflict of interest with regard to the application which might impair the impartiality with which the individual conducts the review under this section.

(2) The Secretary shall take care to assure that representatives of historically and predominantly Black colleges, Hispanic institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and institutions with substantial numbers of Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Native American Pacific Islanders (including Native Hawaiians) are included as readers.

(3) All readers selected by the Secretary shall receive thorough instruction from the Secretary regarding the evaluation process for applications submitted under this title and consistent with the provisions of this title, including--

(A) explanations and examples of the types of activities referred to in section 311(b) that should receive special consideration for grants awarded under part A and of the types of activities referred to in section 323 that should receive special consideration for grants awarded under part B;

(B) an enumeration of the factors to be used to determine the quality of applications submitted under this title; and

(C) an enumeration of the factors to be used to determine whether a grant should be awarded for a project under this title, the amount of any such grant, and the duration of any such grant.

(b) RECOMMENDATIONS OF PANEL.-- In awarding grants under this title, the Secretary shall take into consideration the recommendations of the panel made under subsection (a).

(c) NOTIFICATION.-- Not later than June 30 of each year, the Secretary shall notify each institution of higher education making an application under this title of--

(1) the scores given the applicant by the panel pursuant to this section;

(2) the recommendations of the panel with respect to such application; and

(3) the reasons for the decision of the Secretary in awarding or refusing to award a grant under this title, and any modifications, if any, in the recommendations of the panel made by the Secretary.

(d) EXCLUSION.-- The provisions of this section shall not apply to applications submitted under part D.

 

SEC. 394. COOPERATIVE ARRANGEMENTS.

(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.-- The Secretary may make grants to encourage cooperative arrangements

(1) with funds available to carry out part A, between institutions eligible for assistance under part A and between such institutions and institutions not receiving assistance under this title; or

(2) with funds available to carry out part B, between institutions eligible for assistance under part B and institutions not receiving assistance under this title; for the activities described in section 311(b) or section 323, as the case may be, so that the resources of the cooperating institutions might be combined and shared to achieve the purposes of such parts and avoid costly duplicative efforts and to enhance the development of part A and part B eligible institutions.

(b) PRIORITY. -- The Secretary shall give priority to grants for the purposes described under subsection (a) whenever the Secretary determines that the cooperative arrangement is geographically and economically sound or will benefit the applicant institution.

(c) DURATION. -- Grants to institutions having a cooperative arrangement may be made under this section for a period as determined under section 313 or section 323.SEC. 395. ASSISTANCE TO INSTITUTIONS UNDER OTHER PROGRAMS.

(a) ASSISTANCE ELIGIBILITY.-- Each institution which the Secretary determines to be an institution eligible under part A or an institution eligible under part B may be eligible for waivers in accordance with subsection (b).

(b) WAIVER APPLICABILITY.-- (1) Subject to, and in accordance with, regulations promulgated for the purpose of this section, in the case of any application by an institution referred to in subsection (a) for assistance under any programs specified in paragraph (2), the Secretary is authorized, if such application is otherwise approvable, to waive any requirement for a non-Federal share of the cost of the program or project, or, to the extent not inconsistent with other law, to give, or require to be given, priority consideration of the application in relation to applications from other institutions.

(2) The provisions of this section shall apply to any program authorized by part D or title IV of this Act.

(c) LIMITATION. -- The Secretary shall not waive, under sub-section (b), the non-Federal share requirement for any program for applications which, if approved, would require the expenditure of more than 10 percent of the appropriations for the program for any fiscal year.

 

SEC. 396. LIMITATIONS.

The funds appropriated under section 360 may not be used--

(1) for a school or department of divinity or any religious worship or sectarian activity;

(2) for an activity that is inconsistent with a State plan for desegregation of higher education applicable to such institution;

(3) for an activity that is inconsistent with a State plan of higher education applicable to such institution; or

(4) for purposes other than the purposes set forth in the approved application under which the funds were made available to the institution.

 

SEC. 397. PENALTIES.

Whoever, being an officer, director, agent, or employee of, or connected in any capacity with, any recipient of Federal financial assistance or grant pursuant to this title embezzles, willfully misapplies, steals, or obtains by fraud any of the funds which are the subject of such grant or assistance, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both.

 

SEC. 398. CONTINUATION AWARDS

The Secretary shall make continuation awards under this title for the second and succeeding years of a grant only after determining that the recipient is making satisfactory progress in carrying out the grant.

 

SEC. 399. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.

(a) AUTHORIZATIONS.--

(1) PART A.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part A, $135,000,000 (other than section 316) for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 316, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(C) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 317, $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1999 and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(2) PART B.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part B (other than section 326), $135,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 326, $35,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(3) PART C.-- There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part C, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(4) PART D.-- (A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part D (other than section 345(7), but including section 347), $110,000 for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 345(7), such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 1999 and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(5) PART E.-- There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part E, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.

(b) USE OF MULTIPLE YEAR AWARDS.-- In the event of a multiple year award to any institution under this title, the Secretary shall make funds available for such award from funds appropriated for this title for the fiscal year in which such funds are to be used by the recipient.

HIGHER EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2008, P.L. 110-315

TITLE III—INSTITUTIONAL AID

SEC. 302. DEFINITIONS; ELIGIBILITY.

Section 312 (20 U.S.C. 1058) is amended—

(1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking “subsection (c) of this section” and inserting “subsection (d)”;

(2) in subsection (d)(2), by striking “subdivision” and inserting “paragraph”;

(3) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h); and

(4) by inserting after subsection (f) the following:

“(g) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—For the purpose of this part, the term ‘low-income individual’ means an individual from a family whose taxable income for the preceding year did not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty level determined by using criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of the Census.”

SEC. 304. ALASKA NATIVE AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN-SERVING INSTITUTIONS.

Section 317(c)(2) (20 U.S.C. 1059d(c)(2)) is amended--

(1) in subparagraph (G), by striking ``and'' after the semicolon;

(2) in subparagraph (H), by striking the period and inserting ``; and''; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

``(I) education or counseling services designed to improve the financial literacy and economic literacy of students or the students' families.''

SEC. 317. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

Section 391 (20 U.S.C. 1068) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(e) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary, directly or by grant or contract, may provide technical assistance to eligible institutions to prepare the institutions to qualify, apply for, and maintain a grant, under this title.''.

SEC. 318. WAIVER AUTHORITY.

Section 392 (20 U.S.C. 1068a) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(c) Waiver Authority With Respect to Institutions Located in an Area Affected by a Gulf Hurricane Disaster.--

``(1) Waiver authority.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, unless enacted with specific reference to this section, for any affected institution that was receiving assistance under this title at the time of a Gulf hurricane disaster, the Secretary shall, for each of the fiscal years 2009 through 2011 (and may, for each of the fiscal years 2013 and 2013)--

``(A) waive--

``(i) the eligibility data requirements set forth in section 391(d);

``(ii) the wait-out period set forth in section 313(d);

``(iii) the allotment requirements under section 324; and

``(iv) the use of the funding formula developed pursuant to section 326(f)(3);

``(B) waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision to ensure that affected institutions that were receiving assistance under this title at the time of a

Gulf hurricane disaster are not adversely affected by any formula calculation for fiscal year 2009 or for any of the four succeeding fiscal years, as necessary; and

``(C) make available to each affected institution an amount that is not less than the amount made available to such institution under this title for fiscal year

2006, except that for any fiscal year for which the funds appropriated for payments under this title are less than the appropriated level for fiscal year 2006,

the amount made available to such institutions shall be ratably reduced among the institutions receiving funds under this title.

``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:

``(A) Affected institution.--The term `affected institution' means an institution of higher education that--

``(i) is--``(I) a part A institution (which term shall have the meaning given the

term `eligible institution' under section 312(b)); or (II) a part B institution, as such term is defined in section 322(2), or as identified in section 326(e);

``(ii) is located in an area affected by a Gulf hurricane disaster; and

``(iii) is able to demonstrate that, as a result of the impact of a Gulf hurricane disaster, the institution--(I) incurred physical damage; (II) has pursued collateral source compensation from insurance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Small Business Administration, as appropriate; and (III) was not able to fully reopen in existing facilities or to fully reopen to the pre-hurricane enrollment levels during the 30-day period beginning on August 29, 2005.

``(B) Area affected by a gulf hurricane disaster; gulf hurricane disaster.--The terms `area affected by a Gulf hurricane disaster' and `Gulf hurricane disaster'

have the meanings given such terms in section 209 of the Higher Education Hurricane Relief Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-148, 119 Stat. 2809).''.

SEC. 319. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Section 399(a) (20 U.S.C. 1068h(a)) is amended to read as follows:

``(a) Authorizations.--

``(1) Part a.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part A (other than sections 316 through 320), $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 316, $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(C) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 317, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(D) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 318, $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(E) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 319, $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(F) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 320, $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(2) Part b.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part B (other than section 326), $375,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 326, $125,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(3) Part c.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part C, $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(4) Part d.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out part D (other than section 345(9), but including section 347), $185,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 345(9) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(5) Part e.--(A) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subpart 1 of part E, $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2009, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the five succeeding fiscal years.

``(B) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subpart 2 of part E, such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2009 and each of the five succeeding fiscal years.''.

SEC. 320. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

Title III (20 U.S.C. 1051 et seq.) is further amended—

(1) in section 342(5) (20 U.S.C. 1066a(5))--

(A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by inserting a comma after ``344(b)''; and

(B) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``equipment technology,,'' and inserting ``equipment, technology,'';
(2) in section 343(e) (20 U.S.C. 1066b(e)), by inserting ``Sale of Qualified Bonds.--'' before ``Notwithstanding'';

(3) in the matter preceding clause (i) of section 365(9)(A) (20 U.S.C. 1067k(9)(A)), by striking ``support'' and inserting ``supports'';

(4) in section 391(b)(7)(E) (20 U.S.C. 1068(b)(7)(E)), by striking ``subparagraph (E)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (D)'';

(5) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) of section 392(b)(2) (20 U.S.C. 1068a(b)(2)), by striking ``eligible institutions under part A institutions'' and inserting ``eligible institutions under part A''; and

(6) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of section 396 (20 U.S.C. 1068e), by striking ``360'' and inserting ``399''.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 12372

Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs

This program falls under the rubric of Executive Order 12372 (Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs) and the regulations in 34 CFR Part 79. One of the objectives of the Executive order is to strengthen federalism—or the distribution of responsibility between localities, States, and the Federal government—by fostering intergovernmental partnerships. This idea includes supporting processes that State or local governments have devised for coordinating and reviewing proposed Federal financial grant applications.

The process for doing this requires grant applicants to contact State Single Points of Contact for information on how this works. Multi-state applicants should follow procedures specific to each state.

Further information about the State Single Point of Contact process and a list of names by State can be found at:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/spoc.pdf

Absent specific State review programs, applicants may submit comments directly to the Department. All recommendations and comments must be mailed or hand-delivered by the date indicated in the actual application notice to the following address: The Secretary, EO 12372—CFDA# 84.031A, U.S. Department of Education, room 7E200, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20202.

Proof of mailing will be determined on the same basis as applications (see 34 CFR 75.102). Recommendations or comments may be hand-delivered until 4:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) on the closing date indicated in this notice.

Important note: The above address is not the same address as the one to which the applicant submits its completed applications. Do not send applications to the above address.

General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) Section 427

Section 427 requires each applicant to include in its application a description of the steps the applicant proposes to take to ensure equitable access to, and participation in, its federally-assisted program for students, teachers, and other program beneficiaries with special needs.

This section allows applicants discretion in developing the required description. The statute highlights six barriers that can impede equitable access or participation that you may address: gender, race, national origin, color disability, or age.

A general statement of an applicant’s nondiscriminatory hiring policy is not sufficient to meet this requirement. Applicants must identify potential barriers and explain steps they will take to overcome these barriers.

*Notes:

• Applicants are required to address this provision by attaching a statement to the ED GEPA 427 Form that must be downloaded from Grants.gov.

• All applicants must include information in their applications to address this provision in order to receive funding under this program.

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA)

What is GPRA?

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) is a straightforward statute that requires all federal agencies to manage their activities with attention to the consequences of those activities. Each agency is to clearly state what it intends to accomplish, identify the resources required, and periodically report their progress to the Congress. In so doing, it is expected that the GPRA will contribute to improvements in accountability for the expenditures of public funds, improve Congressional decision-making through more objective information on the effectiveness of federal programs, and promote a new government focus on results, service delivery, and customer satisfaction.

How has the Department of Education Responded to the GPRA Requirements?

• As required by GPRA, the Department of Education has prepared a strategic plan for 2007-2013. This plan reflects the Department’s priorities and integrates them with its mission and program authorities and describes how the Department will work to improve education for all children and adults in the U.S. The Department’s goals, as listed in the plan, are:

Goal 1: Increase student achievement, reward qualified teachers, and renew troubled schools so that every student can read and do math at grade level by 2014, as called for by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Goal 2: Encourage more rigorous and advanced coursework to improve the academic performance of our middle and high school students.

Goal 3: Work with colleges and universities to improve access, affordability, and accountability, so that our higher education system remains the world’s finest.

The performance indicators for the Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions program are part of the Department’s plan for meeting Goal 3. The Department’s specific goal for this program is to improve the capacity of minority-serving institutions, which traditionally have limited resources and serve large numbers of low-income and minority students, to improve student success and to provide high-quality educational opportunities for their students.

What are the Performance Indicators for ANNH?

The specific performance indicators for ANNH are as follows:

1. The number of full-time degree-seeking undergraduates enrolled at ANNH. Note that this is a long-term measure, which will be used periodically to gauge performance, beginning in FY 2009.

2. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at 4-year ANNH institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same ANNH institution.

3. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students at 2-year ANNH institutions who were in their first year of postsecondary enrollment in the previous year and are enrolled in the current year at the same ANNH institution.

4. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at 4-year ANNH institutions graduating within six years of enrollment.

5. The percentage of first-time, full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students enrolled at 2-year ANNH institutions who graduate within three years of enrollment.

6. The cost per successful program outcome: federal cost per undergraduate and graduate degree at ANNH institutions.

How does the Department of Education determine whether performance goals have been met?

An applicant that receives a grant award will be required to submit annual progress reports and a final report as a condition of the award. The reports will document the extent to which project goals and objectives are met.

The most recent version of this program’s annual performance report can be viewed at https://apr.ed.gov. To login, please click on the training tab and request login information to obtain access.

Instructions for Completing the Application

The ANNH application consists of the following four parts. These parts are organized in the same manner that the submitted application should be organized. Remember to upload all forms and sections and follow carefully the Grants.gov application instructions. Note: All attachments must be PDF files. The parts are as follows:

Part I: 424 Forms:

• Application for Federal Assistance (SF 424)

• Department of Education Supplemental Information form for SF 424

Part II: U. S. Department of Education Budget Summary Forms:

• ED 524 (Section A and Section B)

The “U. S. Department of Education Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs” is where applicants provide budget information for Section A – Budget Summary U.S. Department of Education Funds and Section B – Budget Summary Non-Federal Funds Applicants should include costs for all project years.

Part III: Project Narrative Attachment Forms

ED Abstract Form

Project Narrative Attachment Form

ANNH Program Profile Narrative Form

Budget Narrative Attachment Form

Part IV: Assurances, Certifications, and Survey Forms

• GEPA Section 427 requirement – this Must be submitted

• Assurances for Non-Construction Programs (SF 424B)

• Lobbying Form (ED Form 80.0013)

• Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL)

• Survey on Ensuring Equal Opportunity for Applicants

Other/CPP: Competitive Preference Priorities

• Five page response to CPP1, 2, or both

Other/IP: Invitational Priority

• Five page response to IP

ED Abstract Form: Attach your one-page project abstract that will provide an overview of the proposed project.

Project Narrative Attachment Form: The project narrative should include narrative responses to the selection criteria, the competitive preference priorities (CPP), and the Invitational Priorities (IP) that will be used to evaluate your application submitted for this competition. Please include a Table of Contents as the first page of the application narrative. You must limit the application narrative to no more than 50 pages for the Individual Development Grant application and 70 pages for the Cooperative Arrangement Grant. The Project Narrative should be consecutively numbered. You must attach your Project Narrative in the Project Narrative attachment form in Grants.gov.

You must limit your response to the CPPs to no more than five pages in the “Other/CPP” section; and no more than five pages for responding to the IPs in the “Other/IP” section.

Budget Narrative Attachment Form: Attach a detailed line item budget to justify costs are reasonable and necessary to accomplish the proposed project objectives. Note: The selection criterion also requires a budget section that you will respond to as a part of your project narrative (selection criteria). As stated above, this portion is attached to the “Budget Narrative Attachment Form in Grants.gov.

Program Profile Narrative Form: Included in this application is a ANNH Profile Form. You must complete this form and attach it to the Program Profile Narrative Form in Grants.gov.

NOTE: Please do not attach any narratives, supporting files, or application components to the Standard Form (SF 424). Although the form accepts attachments, the Department of Education will only review materials/files attached to the attachment forms listed above. All attachments must be in .PDF format. Other types of files will not be accepted.

Project Narrative Instructions

The project narrative shall be attached to the “Project Narrative Attachment Form” in Grants.gov.

Before preparing the Project Narrative, applicants should review the program statute, program regulations, the Federal Register Notice, the Dear Applicant Letter, and the Competition Highlights for specific guidance and requirements.

The Secretary evaluates an application according to the program specific criteria in 34 CFR 607.22. The Project Narrative should provide in detail the responses to each selection criterion. The maximum possible score for each category of selection criterion is indicated in parenthesis. For ease of reading by the reviewers, applicants should follow the sequence of the criteria as provided below. Applications should be written in a concise and clear manner. You must limit the section of the narrative that addresses the selection criteria to no more than 50 pages for the Individual Development Grant application and 70 pages for the Cooperative Arrangement Grant.

Applicants MUST address each of the following ANNH selection criteria:

1. Quality of Comprehensive Development Plan (25 points)

2. Quality of Activity Objectives (15 points)

3. Quality of Implementation Strategy (20 points)

4. Quality of Key Personnel ( 7 points)

5. Quality of Project Management Plan (10 points)

6. Quality of Evaluation Plan (15 points)

7. Quality of Budget ( 8 points)

_________

Total Maximum Score for Selection Criteria 100 points

The following guidance may assist you in addressing the questions that will be used to evaluate your responses to the selection criteria:

(a) Quality of Comprehensive Development Plan

(Maximum: 25 points).

(1) The strengths, weaknesses, and significant problems of the institution’s academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability are clearly and comprehensively analyzed and result from a process that involved major constituencies of the institution.

Content: Separately describe and analyze your institution's strengths, weaknesses, and significant problems in the following three areas as they relate to each proposed activity:

1. Academic programs,

2. Institutional management, and

3. Fiscal stability.

We are considering “weaknesses” and “significant problems” to be one and the same. Use the grant funds to address some of these weaknesses and problems. Here are some guidelines for stating the problems:

• State what is “too high” or what is “too low.” For example, the percentage of freshmen students who fail four courses is too high. When you state the problem this way, the objectives become obvious. Such as, “to decrease, from 42 percent to 30 percent, the percentage of freshmen students who fail four courses.”

• Avoid problem statements that declare the problem as "the lack of " or "the need for" the very solution you are proposing for funding. Such as, “the problem with our academic programs is a lack of or need for student services outside the classroom. Thus, we propose an activity to establish those student services." This type of statement usually contains circular reasoning.

• Provide summaries of or excerpts from recent data, reports, evaluations or studies that demonstrate that you have objectively and thoroughly analyzed your institution’s main problems.

• Describe the process you used to formulate the above information.

• Provide evidence of the extent and nature of the faculty, staff, students, community, industry, and other major constituents' involvement in this process. You may rely on previously written information, such as a self-study for accreditation, as long as your process for developing the information involved the major constituencies' representatives and reflects your institution's current situation.

(2) The goals for the institution’s academic programs, institutional management, and fiscal stability are realistic and based on comprehensive analysis.

Content: Based on a comprehensive analysis of your institution's strengths, weaknesses, and significant problems, separately state the institutional goals as they relate to each proposed activity you plan to address using Title III, Part A, ANNH Program funds.

(3) The objectives stated in the plan are measurable, related to institutional goals, and if achieved, will contribute to the growth and self-sufficiency of the institution.

Content: Focusing only on the institutional objectives that are specifically related to your proposed Title III, Part A, ANNH Program activities, separately provide measurable objectives for how you will reach each of the goals as you discussed in #2. Achieving the objectives outlined should contribute to the growth and self-sufficiency of the institution.

Describe in measurable terms how objectives are related to the goals of the institution. The description should include details on the following:

Specific Tasks

Institutionalize personnel, programs, and services.

Methods Involved

Operational funding budgeted and allocated to sustain improvements.

Tangible Results

Program, services, and personnel fully institutionalized.

(4) The plan clearly and comprehensively describes the methods and resources the institution will use to institutionalize practices and improvements developed under the proposed project, including, in particular, how operational costs for personnel, maintenance, and upgrades of equipment will be paid with institutional resources.

Content: In this section, separately describe the following for each proposed activity:

The methods your institution will use to integrate practices and improvements developed into its operations and, if appropriate, continue them after the grant ends. For example, provide specifics on how your institution will obtain approval from appropriate internal and/or external governance authorities to conduct new or revised curricula and use new intervention strategies. What will the time period be for these actions?

Provide the resources you will need to institutionalize newly developed practices and improvements and, most importantly, how you will fund them. In particular, discuss how your institution will fund operational costs such as personnel, maintenance, and upgraded equipment. For example, one way to ensure that positions continue after the grant ends is for your institution to pay a percentage of the salary during the grant and increase that percentage during years two, three, four, and five.

(b) Quality of Activity Objectives (Maximum: 15 Points).

(1) The extent to which the objectives for each activity are realistic and defined in terms of measurable results.

Content: State your annual objectives, separately for each activity, which, when combined with their performance indicator(s), are measurable and realistic (not too high, not too low). Connect each objective to the problem or weakness it should address, as you described in the CDP. In addition:

• DO NOT identify process objectives such as: "To establish a college-wide committee”, whose measurement is: "We formed a committee." Identify processes or tasks under the Implementation Strategy as discussed next.

• DO use words such as "to increase" or "to decrease" since you are more likely to be describing a genuine, outcome objective.

• DO NOT begin your objective with words such as "to provide," "to develop," or "to establish." This heightens the likelihood you may be describing a process or task rather than an outcome objective.

• DO provide a realistic number of objectives and performance indicators for each proposed activity and for each year you are requesting funds for that activity.

(2) The extent to which the objectives for each activity are directly related to the problems to be solved and to the goals of the comprehensive development plan.

Content: Separately describe how meeting the objectives of each proposed activity will address a problem identified in the CDP and affect your institution's ability to address its goals for its academic programs, institutional management, or fiscal stability.

If you need funds for more than one activity, you may propose different start and end dates and vary the duration of each. For example, you may need only three years to develop a new curriculum but five years to develop a new management information system. Any proposed activity should address a critical problem that the CDP describes as hindering institutional growth and self-sufficiency. If you propose to use up to 20% for endowment investing, do not write an activity narrative regarding this use of endowment investing, as we do not consider it an activity in the usual sense.

(c) Quality of Implementation Strategy (Maximum: 20 Points).

(1) The extent to which the implementation strategy for each activity is comprehensive.

(2) The extent to which the rationale for the implementation strategy for each activity is clearly described and is supported by the results of relevant studies or projects.

Content: For each proposed activity, explain why you chose a specific method for implementing that activity. Include how you determined that method to be most effective, indicating relevant studies or projects that you reviewed and experts that you consulted.

(3) The timetable for each activity is realistic and likely to be attained.

• Chart an implementation strategy to meet your objectives for each year you are requesting funds and for each activity.

• Use time frames that are realistic for completing a task. Chart each of the five years using the budget period of October 1 to September 30.

• Describe in a comprehensive, sequential and clear manner who will do what and how they will do it to meet the objectives of each activity.

• Identify, by title, the primary participants who will carry out the tasks to meet the objectives. Describe how the personnel will perform the tasks and the results you expect from them.

(d) Quality of Key Personnel (Maximum: 7 Points).

(1) The extent to which the experience and training of key professional personnel are directly related to the stated activity objectives.

(2) The extent to which the time commitment of key personnel is realistic.

Content: For each proposed activity, list, by title and name (if available) which positions are being proposed using Title III funds and describe the qualifications you require of that position and the amount of time each person will allot to the proposed activity.

If you want to use a consultant, explain why a consultant is more advantageous than using the institution’s personnel.

(e) Quality of Project Management Plan (Maximum: 10 Points).

(1) The extent to which procedures for managing the project are likely to ensure efficient and effective project implementation.

(2) The extent to which project coordinator and activity directors have sufficient authority to conduct the project effectively, including access to the president or chief executive officer.

For the Title III, Part A, ANNH Program coordinator’s position, provide the following:

• Under “Quality of Key Personnel”, be sure to include the coordinator's required qualifications (education, experience, training) and the specific duties of the position. Directly relate the duties to the stated purposes and objectives of the project.

• Indicate how much time the Title III, Part A, coordinator will commit to the project. Make the time commitment realistic, not too high nor too low, relative to the tasks the individual will perform.

Note: Your Title III, Part A coordinator’s time commitment to a project may vary considerably from that in another project or another institution’s project. One project focused on developing a management information system, for example, may have a coordinator who is the director of technology in the ordinary hierarchy of the college. He or she may allot 10 percent time to coordinate the project for which the college will pay. On the other hand, a new coordinator of a faculty development project may be an instructional developer with a 50 percent time or 100 percent time commitment paid for with Title III, Part A, funds. Carefully think through the management structure and time commitment that will work best at your institution and specify the reasons for your choice.

• Describe the procedures the project coordinator (project director) will use to manage and monitor the project's progress such as how information will be provided to key administrators so they can integrate project activities with related, on-going institutional activities.

• Describe the project coordinator's (project director) administrative authority over the activity director(s) who is normally responsible for accomplishing a specific activity's objectives. Also, describe the administrative authority of the activity director(s) over subordinates.

• Chart the lines of authority of the project coordinator to key institutional decision makers, including the president.

(f) Quality of Evaluation Plan (Maximum: 15 Points).

(1) The extent to which the data elements and the data collection procedures are clearly described and appropriate to measure the attainment of activity objectives and to measure the success of the project in achieving the goals of the comprehensive development plan.

Content: For each proposed activity, describe the data collection procedures the institution will use to identify the data elements, objectives, and goals identified in the CDP. Include measure attainment of each proposed activity. Include procedures for analyzing and using both formative and summative data.

(2) The extent to which the data analysis procedures are clearly described and are likely to produce formative and summative results on attaining activity objectives and measuring the success of the project on achieving the goals of the comprehensive development plan.

Content: For each proposed activity, describe in detail the project's evaluation plan, including who, what, when and how. Define the baseline indicators of progress that you will use.

The detailed evaluation plan should:

• Produce a valid assessment of your implementation strategies;

• Result in annual, quantifiable evidence of the extent to which you attained your objectives for each activity and your goals for which funding is requested;

• Include the data elements and collection procedures that you will use; and

• Describe procedures for analyzing and using both formative and summative data.

All applicants must submit a plan to conduct a project evaluation as part of their grant activities. The planned evaluation should be systematic in assessing the worth of a project and useful in guiding project objectives and focus primarily on determining the outcomes and impacts of the project relative to those objectives. The evaluation should also serve to strengthen the management of the project and lead to better knowledge of what works in producing the desired outcomes.

An individual or organization, independent of the project team (and all of its partners), but not necessarily external to the grantee institution, should execute the project evaluation plan. This independent evaluator should assist in the initial preparation of the evaluation plan and be willing to work alongside the project team throughout the duration of the project. The evaluator should possess good evaluation skills commonly found among practitioners of the American Evaluation Association. Helpful Web sites to consult when preparing an evaluation plan include:

• Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/fipse/evaluate.html

• National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04016/nsf04016_4.htm

• Kellogg Foundation: http://www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=75&CID=281&NID=61&LanguageID=0 (for their evaluation handbook)

• Academic Competitiveness Council http://hub.mspnet.org/search/?action=true&search_text=evaluation

The project director and team should be committed to gathering the best evaluation data possible for formative and summative purposes. Projects should collect baseline data before the project starts as a basis for measuring progress.

A summary of the evaluation report must be included in the final performance report submitted by the project to the Department of Education. The report, which also includes fiscal and management performance information, is due within 90 days after expiration of the award. The evaluation report should be included as an appendix to the final performance report as well as available upon request. (Please see 34 CFR 75.217 for information on how project performance may affect future funding).

For the Title III, ANNH Program, the evaluation plan should produce a valid assessment of the implementation strategies. It should also result in annual, quantifiable evidence of the attainment of objectives for each activity and of the goals in the CDP.

(g) Budget (Maximum: 8 Points).

The extent to which the proposed costs are necessary and reasonable in relation to the project’s objectives and scope.

Content: Review the program regulations (34 CFR 607.10 and 607.30) for guidance on which activities and costs are allowable. For example, you may not use your grant funds to:

- Recruit students;

- Carry out activities that are operational rather than developmental;

- Carry out student activities such as entertainment, cultural or social enrichment programs, student publications, social clubs or associations;

- Pay for organized fund raising and;

- Cover indirect costs.

Prepare a separate, detailed, budget narrative for each proposed activity for each year you are requesting grant funds. Demonstrate and justify that all costs are reasonable in today’s market and necessary to accomplish your activity objectives. Please pay particular attention in your justification to those (per item) costs exceeding $25,000, excluding salaries and fringe benefits. For each activity, provide itemized costs (in dollars), and a narrative justification to support your request for:

• Personnel

• Fringe Benefits

• Travel

• Equipment

• Supplies

• Contractual

• Construction

• Other

• Total

You must provide details so we can determine if the costs are allowable, necessary and reasonable.

NOTE: The Title III, Part A, ANNH Program, CFDA 84.031N&W, does not reimburse grantees for indirect costs they incur in carrying out a project funded under this program. Therefore, applicants should not show any dollar amounts for indirect costs on either line 10 of the application budget form (ED 524) or in their budget narrative. Applicants should also be aware that un-reimbursed indirect costs under grants of this program may not be charged as direct cost items in the same award, used to satisfy matching or cost-sharing requirements, or charged to another Federal award.

Do not include a budget narrative (as a separate activity) for endowment investing.

Note: Check all combined totals for the proposed activity budgets and compare it to the total on the ED 524. The totals must match.

U. S. Department of Education Budget Information Non-Construction Programs (Section A - Budget Summary U.S. Department of Education Funds and Section B – Budget Summary Non-Federal Funds (ED 524 form)).

First, carefully read the instructions contained in this document. Then, using the Department of Education Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs (ED524) form, prepare a budget for the entire project that totals all the costs for each year of the grant. If you choose to use up to 20 percent of grant funds to establish or increase your institution’s endowment fund through endowment investing, enter the amount of your contribution in the summary budget on the “other” line. If you have additional items for the other category, separate the endowment contribution from the other items and make two entries for “other.” Endowment monies should be listed first.

Competitive Preference Priorities:

• Competitive Preference Priority 1 (Maximum 2 points): Increasing Postsecondary Success: College Completion – projects that are designed to increase the number and proportion of high-need students (as defined in the Title III, Part A, ANNH FY 2014 competition Federal Register notice) who complete college or other postsecondary education and training.

Note: In responding to this priority, applicants are encouraged to discuss how all strategies they are proposing to carry out would result in improvements in postsecondary success.

• Competitive Preference Priority 2 (Maximum 2 points): Improving Productivity - projects that are designed to significantly increase efficiency in the use of time, staff, money, or other resources while improving student learning or other educational outcomes (i.e., outcome per unit of resource). Such projects may include innovative and sustainable uses of technology, modification of school schedules and teacher compensation systems, use of open educational resources (as defined in the Title III, Part A, ANNH FY 2014 competition Federal Register notice), or other strategies.

Note: The types of projects identified in Competitive Preference Priority 2 are suggestions for ways to improve productivity. Other strategies for productivity also could include the use of technology, alternative staffing models, or competency-based learning. The Department recognizes that some of these examples, such as modification of teacher compensation systems, may not be relevant to this program. Accordingly, applicants should consider responding to the competitive preference priority in a way that improves productivity in a relevant higher education context

Invitational Priorities:

• Invitational Priority 1 (No Valued Points) – projects that Support Activities that strengthen Native language preservation and revitalization at our institutions of higher education.

Instructions for Standard Forms:

● APPLICATION FACE SHEET - (SF 424)

● DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SUPPLEMENTAL FORM (SF 424)

● DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION BUDGET SUMMARY FORM (ED 524)

● DISCLOSURE OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES (SF-LLL)

● SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

Other Information and Guidance:

● SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS