At the end of the federal fiscal year just a few weeks ago, the two agencies primarily involved with federal grants that support colleges in meeting students’ basic needs—the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS)—announced the recipients of the Fiscal Year 2026 money Congress had appropriated. 

In total, ED awarded three grants through the Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program (“Basic Needs Grants”) and 40 through Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS), while 72 Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention (GLS) grants were made through Health and Human Services (HHS). Together, the three programs total nearly $94 million. Other competitive federal grant programs also support basic needs, as detailed below.  

In FY26, Congress provided $10 million for Basic Needs Grants, the only federal program designed to address student basic needs insecurity comprehensively. It also provided $75 million for the CCAMPIS program to support parenting students to help them pay for child care. And GLS Campus Grants received approximately $10.5 million from Congress to support campus suicide prevention and mental health care. The agencies awarded nearly all of this funding, with small amounts reserved for grant administration. 

The award of these grants is good news for recipients but comes amid a time of rising uncertainty about the administration of federal grants—including continued efforts to make it easier to cancel grants for existing recipients for “convenience,” similar to prior actions under the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), and the shifting of grant administration responsibilities to other agencies through the widespread use of interagency agreements as the Trump Administration attempts to dismantle ED. We strongly object to these efforts. 

The Hope Center was proud to advocate for robustly funding these programs in FY26. However, we also acknowledge that these investments are not sufficient to meet the needs of the 3 in 5 students experiencing basic needs insecurity and urge Congress to provide greater funding. 

Basic Needs Grants  

The Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program, or “Basic Needs Grants,” is the only federal investment supporting comprehensive interventions to address and prevent student basic needs insecurity. The number of awardees nearly doubled over the program’s first four competitions, from six awards in 2021 to eight in 2022 and 11 in both 2023 and 2024, as the funding Congress provided also steadily increased. 

However, the agency awarded grants to only three recipients this year, each for a four-year grant. ED informed us that they received 135 applications for FY26, meaning the program had a remarkably competitive 2.2% funding rate. We applaud all who applied and encourage applicants to submit their proposals to alternative sources, seek philanthropic support, or try again next cycle. 

Of the three grantees, two are state agencies that were not eligible to apply in prior years, when eligibility was limited to community colleges and minority-serving institutions, and projects involving state entities received additional points. The two state awards, $4.1 million to the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission and $5.0 million to the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP), will support basic needs work at multiple colleges in each state, and the third, $787,324 to Chemeketa Community College in Oregon, will fund a central basic needs hub on that campus.  

While the lower number of grantees than previous years was disappointing, the full appropriation from Congress was utilized, and it was within the range ED estimated during the competition. This year, applicants also had to apply for the Basic Needs Grant through the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor because of ED’s interagency agreement; this process confused many applicants. 

The Hope Center has proudly led coalition advocacy to support the Basic Needs Grant, including in the pending FY27 appropriations bill, helping retain and increase Congressional funding for the program over time. We also spoke out when ED redirected funding away from the Basic Needs Grant in FY25 and successfully worked with Congress on appropriations language to prevent the agency from doing so again. 

Child Care Access Means Parents in School 

For its FY26 competition, ED originally estimated it would award $73.5 million for about 148 new CCAMPIS awards. However, this year ED only made 40 new awards. Our partners have rightfully raised concerns about the lower number of recipients amidst the growing needs of parenting students. 

Demand for the CCAMPIS program also rose sharply; ED told The Hope Center it received 295 eligible applications, compared with 161 in its previous open competition in FY23 (an 83 percent increase). ED’s FY26 award list shows the 40 new grants total $18.2 million in first-year funding, and $71.4 million over the four years of their grants. A total of 38 colleges received “continuation” awards, meaning another year of funding within their original four-year project, as expected. 

This year, ED “frontloaded” an unprecedented number of the CCAMPIS grants by using most of the this fiscal year’s funding to pay for all four years for each project into the future. Had ED funded only the first year of each grant, as its notice anticipated, the same money could have supported the 148 colleges it estimated instead of just 40. We oppose the widespread use of frontloading when it is not necessary, especially as the Trump Administration continues to put forward proposals that allow them to cancel the very continuation awards being promised with the frontloading merely for reasons of “convenience.” (We spoke out about these new grant rules, as discussed below). We call on Congress to restrict the use of frontloading in the future, similar to the Title III and V programs, and block efforts to destabilize federal grant awards. 

This year, applicants for CCAMPIS also had to apply through HHS because of the Trump Administration’s ongoing effort to dismantle ED through interagency agreements. Both applicants and recipients have reported confusion about this process, which comes as ED staffing was cut significantly—reducing the number of agency contacts available to provide technical assistance. We remain concerned about the future of the CCAMPIS program. 

Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention 

The Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention program, or “GLS Campus Grants,” is the only federal investment in college students’ mental and behavioral health services. Unfortunately, the program is extremely small relative to the extensive needs of students.  

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at HHS made 72 new awards for FY26, totaling $8.7 million in initial funding. The agency also awarded $1 million to continue funding 10 campuses it first funded in FY24. That is about how many awards SAMHSA projected and more than twice the number of new awards (30) it made in FY24. Each grant can provide up to $125,000 a year for four years. We call on Congress to substantially increase funding for GLS Campus Grants in future years. 

Other Federal Basic Needs Related Programs 

A few other programs indirectly support student basic needs. The Postsecondary Student Success Grant (PSSG) funds evidence-based strategies to improve retention, transfer, and completion. This year, ED made nine new PSSG awards totaling $44.6 million over four years. More than half of the grants went to state agencies and higher education systems, including the North Carolina Community College System Office and the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, and as with the Basic Needs Grant, the competition gave a scoring preference to projects led by state entities. 

The Rural Postsecondary and Economic Development (RPED) program supports rural students as they enroll in and finish college and can include basic needs supports. ED made totaling $44.6 million in FY26, compared with 21 in FY24. 

And the Open Textbooks Pilot helps reduce the cost of course materials for students in higher education by promoting the development of free “open” source knowledge that is not copyrighted and sold to students. ED made four awards for the program—two to consortia and two to stage agencies—totaling $7 million, all of which are expected to result in cost savings for students.  

Guide for Future Applicants and Looking Ahead to FY27 

The Hope Center’s Federal Funding Opportunities guide helps institutions and systems of higher education apply for federal grants. Congress still must resolve the uncertainty of FY27 funding, which runs out under a continuing resolution on December 11, 2026. Assuming it does so without issue and without major cuts, prospective applicants can stay tuned early next year for grant competitions for the programs mentioned here, which we will update in our guide. 

These awards also come as ED considers changes to the rules for how it awards and manages grants, known as the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR). The August proposal would let ED end a grant “for convenience,” drop the priority that continuing grants receive over new applicants, and spell out how ED may frontload awards, as it did with CCAMPIS this year. 

As previously mentioned, The Hope Center urged ED to withdraw the proposal in our September public comment. If finalized, the rule would make multiyear grants less predictable and leave colleges vulnerable to shifting priorities after an award is made. It would also shift federal costs onto colleges, which would have to pay for services like campus child care themselves or scale them back, leaving students without the support they rely on. 

We applaud the successful grantees as we look toward Congress to bolster the investment in students and protect it from unnecessary destabilization from the Administration.