UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

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						November 2, 2026

MEMORANDUM

TO:			Phillip Pollman
			Office of Management and Budget/OIRA Desk Officer

FROM:		Ross Santy
			Chief Data Officer & PRA Official	

RE:	Change Request for the Application for Grants Under the Upward Bound Program (#1840-0550)

The Upward Bound Program, authorized under 20 U.S.C. 1070a-11 and 1070a-13, is one of the Federal TRIO Programs. The purpose of the Upward Bound Program is to provide students with the skills and motivation necessary to complete a program of secondary education and enter into and succeed in a program of postsecondary education. The Application for Grants Under the Upward Bound Program is currently approved through November 30, 2027 (#1840-0550), under the Streamlined Clearance Process for Discretionary Grants (#1894-0001).

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) is in the process of simplifying its discretionary grant competition announcements using a format referred to as the Application Notice and Instructions (ANI). This format will condense and streamline the information that was traditionally contained in discretionary grant application packages published by the Department.

In conjunction with this process, the Department intends to update the information collection requests (ICR) associated with the affected discretionary grant programs so that these ICRs will include only program-specific forms, assurances, and/or certifications that require clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) and have not already been approved under another Office of Management and Budget (OMB) number. All standard forms that have already been approved by OMB and are not unique to these ICRs, as well as additional information not directly related to the program-specific forms, assurances, and/or certifications associated with a given program, will be removed from the ICRs and included in each program’s ANI as appropriate.

Regarding the Upward Bound application, the Department is requesting that OMB consider a change request that would update ICR #1840-0550 to include only the Upward Bound Program Profile and Program Assurances. Other information contained in the currently approved version of the Upward Bound application booklet, including standard forms and any sections not required by the PRA and not related to the program-specific forms listed above, will be included in the ANI as appropriate. The total burden to apply to the grant program does not change as a result of this, although we do expect the use of a standard format across all discretionary grant applications will result in ED forms that are more accessible to the public.

If this change request is not approved, the Department will not be able to move forward with the FY 2027 Upward Bound competition for new awards. Therefore, the Department is requesting approval of this change request as soon as possible in order to announce the competition in a timely manner.