Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)

Welcome to OPE

Thank you for visiting the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) Web site. We want to provide you with useful and timely information about OPE grants, grant opportunities, and the role OPE plays in the accreditation process and development of higher education policy and regulations.

Office Responsibilities

OPE works to strengthen the capacity of colleges and universities to promote reform, innovation and improvement in postsecondary education, promote and expand access to postsecondary education and increase college completion rates for America’s students, and broaden global competencies that drive the economic success and competitiveness of our Nation.

OPE’s Office of the Assistant Secretary and its Office of Management and Planning facilitate this work through its three divisions:

• Higher Education Programs (HEP):
  • Institutional Service: Administers grant programs designed to improve academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability, and strengthen physical plants and endowments of institutions of higher education, with an emphasis on institutions that enroll large proportions of minority and financially disadvantaged students.
  • Student Service: Administers grant programs supporting low-income, first-generation students and individuals with disabilities as they progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to graduate school, in addition to programs focused on college readiness, campus-based child care and graduate fellowships.
• Office of International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE): Administers programs to strengthen foreign language learning, international and area studies teaching, and research and curriculum development on global issues at the undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, and K-12 levels.
• Office of Policy, Planning and Innovation (PPI): Develops Federal postsecondary education policy and regulations including policy which supports the Federal student financial assistance programs and programs authorized by the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) and administers the review process for accreditation agencies to ensure that the education provided by the institutions of higher education meets acceptable levels of quality.

Office of Postsecondary Education - Programs

The Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) administers over 60 programs that address critical national needs and support our mission of increasing access to quality postsecondary education.

Eligibility Designations and Applications for Waiving Eligibility Requirements

Education Stabilization Fund

• Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund

Institutional Service

• Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
  • Basic Needs Program
  • Center for Education Excellence for Black Teachers Program at HBCUs
  • Center of Excellence in Spatial Computing Program
  • Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success
  • Digital Learning Infrastructure and IT Modernization Pilot
  • Modeling and Simulation Program
  • National Center for Information and Technical Support for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities
  • Open Textbooks Pilot Program
  • Postsecondary Earmarks
  • Postsecondary Student Success Program
  • Research and Development Infrastructure (RDI) Program
  • Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development (RPED) Program
  • Transitioning Gang-Involved Youth to Higher Education Program
• Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions
• American Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities
• Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions
• Augustus F. Hawkins Center of Excellence (Hawkins) Program
• Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (Title V)
• Demonstration Projects to Ensure Students with Disabilities Receive a Quality Higher Education
• Emergency Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education Program
• Hispanic-Serving Institutions Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (HSI STEM) and Articulation Programs
• Historically Black College and University Capital Financing
• Master's Degree Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• Master's Degree Programs at Predominantly Black Institutions
• Minority Science and Engineering Improvement
• Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions
• Predominantly Black Institutions - Competitive Grants
• Predominantly Black Institutions - Formula Grants
• Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans
• Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities, (Title III, Part B)
• Strengthening Historically Black Graduate Institutions, (Title III, Part B)
• Strengthening Institutions
• Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
• Transition Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities Coordinating Center
• Transitioning Gang-Involved Youth to Higher Education Program

International and Foreign Language Education

• American Overseas Research Centers
• Business and International Education
• Centers for International Business Education
• Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships
• Fulbright-Hays Training Grants - Seminars Abroad - Bilateral Projects
• Fulbright-Hays Training Grants - Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
• Fulbright-Hays Training Grants – Faculty Research Abroad Fellowships
• Fulbright-Hays Training Grants - Group Projects Abroad
• International Research and Studies
• Language Resource Centers
• National Resource Centers
• Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program

Student Service

• TRIO Programs
  • Educational Opportunity Centers
  • Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement
  • Student Support Services
  • Talent Search
  • Training Program for Federal TRIO Staff
  • Upward Bound
  • Upward Bound Math/Science
  • Veterans Upward Bound
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School
• Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP)
• Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)

Other Programs

• Howard University