Programs for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) Under the Higher Education Act (HEA)

Alexandra Hegji
Analyst in Social Policy

Minority-serving institutions (MSIs) are institutions of higher education that serve high concentrations of minority students who, historically, have been underrepresented in higher education. Many MSIs have faced challenges in securing adequate financial support, thus affecting their ability to develop and enhance their academic offerings and ultimately serve their students. Federal higher education policy recognizes the importance of such institutions and targets financial resources to them. Funding for MSIs is channeled through numerous federal agencies, and several of these funding sources are available to MSIs through grant programs authorized under the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA; P.L. 89-329). Over the years, HEA programs that support MSIs have expanded and now include programs for institutions serving a wide variety of student populations. In FY2012, MSI programs under the HEA were appropriated approximately $818 million, which helped fund more than 970 grants.

Currently, the HEA authorizes several programs that benefit MSIs:

• Title III-A authorizes the Strengthening Institutions Program, which provides grants to institutions with financial limitations and a high percentage of needy students. Title III-A also authorizes separate similar programs for American Indian tribally controlled colleges and universities; Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions; predominantly Black institutions (PBIs); Native American-serving, nontribal institutions; and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions. Grants awarded under these programs assist eligible institutions in strengthening their academic, administrative, and fiscal capabilities. These programs are typically funded through annual discretionary appropriations, but additional annual mandatory appropriations are provided through FY2019.

• Title III-B authorizes the Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) program and the Historically Black Graduate Institutions program, both of which award grants to eligible institutions to assist them in strengthening their academic, administrative, and fiscal capabilities. These programs are typically funded through annual discretionary appropriations; however, additional annual mandatory appropriations are provided for HBCUs through FY2019.

• Title III-C authorizes the Endowment Challenge Grant program, which has not been funded since FY1995.

• Title III-D authorizes the HBCU Capital Financing Program, which assists HBCUs in obtaining low-cost capital financing for campus maintenance and construction projects and is generally funded through annual discretionary appropriations.

• Title III-E authorizes the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program, which provides grants to MSIs and other entities to effect long-term improvements in science and engineering education and is funded through annual discretionary appropriations.

• Title III-F authorizes additional annual mandatory appropriations through FY2019 for many of the Title III-A and Title III-B MSI programs. It also authorizes and appropriates funding through FY2019 for the Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Articulation Program, which provides grants to HSIs to increase the number of Hispanic students in STEM fields and to develop model transfer and articulation.

• Title V authorizes the HSI program and the Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans (PPOHA), both of which award grants to eligible institutions to assist them in strengthening their academic, administrative, and fiscal capabilities. Typically, both programs are funded through annual discretionary appropriations, but additional annual mandatory appropriations are provided for the PPOHA program through FY2014.

• Title VII-A-4 authorizes Master’s Degree Programs at HBCUs and PBIs, which provide grants to select HBCUs and PBIs to improve graduate educational opportunities. Typically, both programs are funded through annual discretionary appropriations, but additional annual mandatory appropriations are provided for both programs through FY2014.


Date of Report: September 23, 2013
Number of Pages: 58
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Head Start: Background and Funding

Karen E. Lynch
Specialist in Social Policy

Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services to low-income children since 1965. The program seeks to promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services. Head Start is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal Head Start funds are provided directly to local grantees rather than through states. Programs are locally designed and are administered by a network of roughly 1,600 public and private nonprofit and for-profit agencies. Most children served in Head Start programs are three- and four-year olds, but in 1994 Head Start was expanded to include an Early Head Start program, which serves children from birth to three years of age. Except as noted, the term Head Start in this report typically refers to both of these programs.

In May 2013, HHS announced that the FY2013 funding level for Head Start is $7.573 billion. This amount is $395 million (-5%) less than Head Start’s FY2012 funding level of $7.969 billion. The FY2013 funding level includes amounts provided in the final FY2013 appropriations law (P.L. 113-6), an across-the-board rescission of 0.2% required by Section 3004 of that law (as interpreted by the Office of Management and Budget), and reductions required by the sequester ordered on March 1, 2013. Sequestration is an automatic across-the-board spending reduction process under which budgetary resources are permanently canceled to enforce budget policy goals. In FY2013, the sequester was ordered by the President as a result of provisions in the Budget Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25), as amended. According to HHS, roughly 57,000 children have been cut from Head Start programs in FY2013 as a result of sequestration. In FY2013, Head Start also received supplemental funding (from P.L. 113-2) for disaster relief costs associated with the effects of Hurricane Sandy. When accounting for sequestration, the disaster supplemental provided roughly $95 million for Head Start programs. These funds were appropriated in addition to funds provided in the final FY2013 appropriations law.

The FY2014 President’s Budget, released in April 2013, requested $9.621 billion for Head Start. This amount would be roughly $2 billion (+27%) more than the program’s post-sequester FY2013 funding level. The President’s request included $1.4 billion for a newly proposed Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership Program. In July 2013, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an FY2014 appropriations bill (S. 1284, S.Rept. 113-71) that would provide Head Start with the full amount requested by the President. The House Appropriations Committee has not yet taken action on this appropriations bill.

The Head Start Act was most recently reauthorized with the signing of the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-134) on December 12, 2007. This law authorized the program through the end of FY2012, meaning that Head Start is currently due for reauthorization. The 2007 reauthorization law included provisions to increase the program’s authorized funding levels; revise the allocation formula; limit grantee designation periods to five years (at which point the grant may be re-competed); expand eligibility to allow grantees to fill up to 35% of their slots with children from families with income between 100% and 130% of the poverty line (in certain circumstances); increase qualifications and training requirements for Head Start staff; delineate roles and responsibilities of a grantee’s governing body and policy council; and terminate the National Reporting System. The law also contained provisions aimed at promoting coordination among Head Start grantees and other state and local early childhood programs.


Date of Report: September 18, 2013
Number of Pages: 60
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Head Start: Designation Renewal System

Karen E. Lynch

Specialist in Social Policy

Head Start is a federal program that has provided comprehensive early childhood development services (e.g., education, health, nutrition, and social services) to low-income children and their families since 1965. These services are intended to promote the school readiness of children by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. At the federal level, Head Start is administered by the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Federal Head Start funds are provided directly to local public and private nonprofit and for-profit agencies (called “grantees”), rather than through states. At this time, programs are administered by roughly 1,600 grantees.

Since the program’s inception, Head Start grantees have generally been given grant awards for indefinite periods (i.e., awards with no end date). However, the 2007 Head Start reauthorization law (P.L. 110-134) changed this by instituting a five-year designation period for Head Start grantees. Under this law, at the end of its five-year designation period, a grantee must demonstrate that it is delivering high-quality and comprehensive services, or else the grant is to be opened for re-competition. The law refers to the process of identifying grantees for re- competition as the Designation Renewal System (DRS). The law tasked HHS with establishing the DRS in consultation with a panel of experts and based on parameters specified in the law.

In January 2008, HHS convened an Advisory Committee on Re-designation of Head Start Grantees. Twelve months later, the advisory committee released a report with formal recommendations for implementing the DRS. In September 2010, HHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the DRS based, in part, on the advisory committee’s recommendations. HHS received approximately 16,000 comments on the proposed rule from Head Start grantees, parents, teachers, state associations, national organizations, academic institutions, and legal entities. HHS took all comments into consideration before publishing a final rule on the DRS in November 2011.

The DRS final rule established seven indicators for identifying Head Start grantees that are not providing “high-quality and comprehensive services.” The indicators address various aspects of program quality, licensing and operations, and fiscal and internal controls. Any grantee that fails to meet the minimum quality standards set by one or more of the seven indicators will automatically be required to compete for continued funding.

Under the terms of the final rule, the DRS became effective on December 9, 2011. That month, HHS announced the first cohort of grantees required to re-compete. A second cohort of grantees designated for re-competition was announced in January 2013. DRS competitions began in 2012. As of July 2013, HHS had awarded roughly 153 grants through DRS competitions.

Date-of-Report:-August-14,-2013
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