Archived Information

Demonstrating Results, An Introduction to Government Performance and Results Act, Spring 1999

How HEP is Organized

The Office of Higher Education Programs is responsible for almost $1.3 billion in program funds, appropriated under 34 separate pieces of legislation. This supports about 3,200 projects located in all parts of the United States. In order to administer these programs effectively, HEP is organized into four Service Areas, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: HEP Organization

Three units are responsible for the direct management of the programs. They are:

Federal TRIO Programs (formerly known as Higher Education Preparation and Support Service (HEPSS))– Six of the programs are designed to serve and assist students from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs. These programs are Talent Search, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math/Science, Student Support Services, Educational Opportunity Centers, and Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement. A TRIO Training Program is available for current and future TRIO staff. And finally, the Higher Education Amendments of 1998 authorized the TRIO Dissemination Partnership program to encourage the replication of successful practices of TRIO programs by providing occasion and incentives for institutions and agencies to adapt demonstrably valuable TRIO program components, practices, strategies, and activities.

Institutional Development and Undergraduate Education Service (IDUES) – administers four Title III programs designed to help higher education institutions that serve a large portion of disadvantaged students improve their academic programs, administrative and financial capabilities, as well as several undergraduate incentive programs, and manages and collects construction loans made to institutions of higher education.

International Education and Graduate Programs Service (IEGPS) – administers a series of programs designed to strengthen the capability and performance of American education in foreign languages and in area and international studies, and to improve secondary and postsecondary teaching and research concerning other cultures and languages, training of specialists, and the American public's general understanding of the peoples of other countries, as well as fellowship programs to assist graduate students of superior ability to obtain doctoral or other terminal degrees.

The fourth unit, Program Monitoring and Information Technology Service (PMIT), is charged with supporting the other service areas in gathering, analyzing and reporting information that will aid HEP to improve all of its programs. PMIT has staff members, called Area Representatives, located in various cities throughout the country. These individuals have responsibility for monitoring projects and providing general programmatic advice and technical assistance on all HEP programs. Although Area Representatives work closely with program staff, they are not substitutes for Program Officers, who have the ultimate responsibility for managing the projects under their stewardship. Being geographically closer to the grantees, however, Area Representatives are often familiar with the specific problems in their regions and generally are more accessible to grantees than the staff in Washington. The eight areas designated for monitoring purposes are shown in Figure 2. The names and address of the Area Representatives are provided at the end of this booklet.

Figure 2: Geographic Areas for Monitoring

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[Performance Measures]

[Assessment of Performance]