News Article

COE: Update from the Dept. of Education
Thursday, May 27th, 2010

Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson spoke to COE's Board of Directors on Friday, May 21st in Washington, D.C.  Included in her remarks:

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES COMPETITION

The slate of funded SSS programs for 2010-2015 will be sent to the Acting Assistant Secretary and the Secretary of Education for approval from the TRIO Division in the next few weeks. There were at least fifteen applications that were submitted that were deemed ineligible; these institutions have been contacted by the TRIO staff. The absolute deadline for notification to projects would be the end of August for a September 1st start with the notification to Congress being sent in mid-August. The Department realizes a July notification would be most helpful to grantees but the process is often delayed by circumstances beyond the control of the TRIO division.

DEPARTMENT'S INTENT NOT TO IMPLEMENT THE APPEALS PROCESS INCLUDED IN THE HEOA

Legal counsel within the Department has advised the TRIO Division not to implement the appeals process mandated by the Higher Education Opportunity Act signed in August 2008 because regulations governing this process are not expected to be finalized before September.

PROPOSED REGULATIONS FOR TRIO

Over four hundred and fifty public comments were received by the Department of Education on the proposed TRIO regulations. The Department is now developing the federal response to each issue raised. It is not expected that final regulations will be published before September.

TALENT SEARCH AND EOC COMPETITION

Due to the delay in publishing the final TRIO regulations, including Talent Search and EOC, the closing date for the competitions is not expected before October of 2010. Presently, Talent Search may be due in mid-October with EOC due in mid-November, 2010. The minimum number of participants to be served is one apparent point of discussion in the policy offices of the Department that is preventing an earlier closing date. Applications for Grants may be published in early September with the ten Department of Education Technical Assistance Workshops tentatively scheduled for the week of September 13-20th. Information on these Workshops and the competition schedule will be posted on www.ed.gov/ope/trio as soon as information is available.

NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION AWARDS MAILING SCHEDULE

Regular Upward Bound - Mailed May 14, 2010
CCRAA (December 1st start date) Upward Bound - Mailed May 21, 2010
Talent Search and EOC - To Be Mailed May 28, 2010
McNair - To Be Mailed June 30, 2010
Upward Bound Math/Science - To Be Mailed July 30, 2010
Veterans Upward Bound - To Be Mailed July 30, 2010

CARRYING FORWARD LARGE UNOBLIGATED BALANCES TO SUBSEQUENT FUNDING PERIOD (2010-2011)

Dr. Byrd-Johnson warned programs to spend their funds on allowable costs. Carry over of funds above $25,000 will not be allowed.  Please note that the previous practice had been to allow carryover of unexpended funds up to $50,000. Institutions that have not drawn down at least 70% of their annual grant amount have been contacted by TRIO Division Staff and directed to spend or encumber these funds by July 30, 2010. Student Support Services may be allowed to carry-forward as much as $25,000 to the new funding cycle. Any amount over $25,000 will be recouped by the Department and distributed to another TRIO program. No TRIO program should have large amounts of carry-forward funds; otherwise they risk losing those funds for the current year and having those funds subtracted from the next funding period.

TRIO TRAINING AUTHORITY COMPETITION

Dr. Byrd-Johnson requested an emergency clearance of the Application for Grants under the TRIO Training Authority in April 2010 in order for awards to be made by September 30, 2010. A Pre-Application Technical Assistance Workshop will be held by the Department the week of June 21st with a Closing Date projected around July 15th. Dr. Byrd-Johnson is researching the timeline required and attempting to give potential grantees thirty to forty-five days to submit.