Last Updated: June 3, 2026

This resource guide explains six federal grant opportunities that can fund basic needs efforts at colleges and universities. These grants can help successful applicants boost student persistence and completion by filling gaps in students' ability to secure food, housing, hygiene, mental health, and child care, as well as other essential non-tuition needs they must meet in and out of the classroom. Funds can help colleges begin new basic needs work or increase the scale and sustainability of their existing resources. 

Congress typically revisits these programs each year, and funding availability and levels, as well as application timelines, can change. However, this guide provides essential information about the grant programs to help your institution of higher education, system, or state prepare for the application process. 

We also acknowledge the ongoing uncertainty of the federal policy landscape—including proposals by Congress and the Administration to cut or flat-fund these programs, which can cause challenges for applicants. We are committed to fighting for additional funding for each of these programs, and you can find out more on our Policy & Advocacy page.  

Each section below provides an overview of the program, eligibility, funding levels, and other resources for applying. Institutions are encouraged to review each program and explore funding options that best serve their students’ needs.

We hope to see many Hope Impact Partnership (HIP) institutions take advantage of these funding opportunities. If you have any questions relating to a program or need further information, please feel free to reach out to [click-for-email]

The Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program (or what we call “Basic Needs Grants”) is housed at the U.S. Department of Education and is the only federal program to comprehensively address students’ basic needs in higher education. Institutions can use these grants to invest in programs that address food, housing, transportation, health care, child care, and other non-tuition expenses for students. It is a part of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), which makes other competitive grant awards to institutions as directed by Congress, and is currently administered by the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of ED.  

The grant requires a holistic, or comprehensive, approach to meeting basic needs, such as strengthening collaboration with federal, state, or local government agencies or community-based organizations. For example, the grant can support outreach, referral, and casework to help students enroll in public benefits programs or secure tax benefits. Campuses are also encouraged to leverage or develop on-campus resources like food pantries, child care, or basic needs centers.  

The Trump Administration also added significant emphasis on workforce development and artificial intelligence (AI) to the FY 2026 competition (announced May 21, 2026). The Administration encourages applicants to connect basic needs supports to workforce outcomes (including employment) and pathways (including registered apprenticeships, earn-while-you-learn pathways, and short-term or stackable credentials). They also mention the value of improving student literacy in AI. However, this workforce and AI emphasis appears primarily in the program overview and unscored invitational priorities; it is not reflected in the scored selection criteria, which remain focused on need, project design, management, and evaluation quality. Institutions may wish to consider how their proposed activities for the Basic Needs Grant connect to workforce outcomes or programs where relevant (such as supporting the basic needs of students in Workforce Pell programs) to improve their chances of receiving an award but are not required to do so.   

For FY 2026, eligibility has expanded to all institutions of higher education, consortia or systems of IHEs, and public and private nonprofit organizations and agencies. In previous cycles, eligibility was restricted to community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), but this is no longer the case under the Trump Administration’s FY 2026 priorities. 

The Basic Needs Grant program has existed since Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, and colleges in at least 22 states and Puerto Rico have received funding. In FY24—the last open competition—the Department made 11 new awards totaling $9.7 million nationally. No Basic Needs Grants were awarded in FY25 due to the U.S. Department of Education’s unfortunate decision to redirect funds to other projects. The FY26 competition opened on May 21, 2026, with 2–10 awards expected and an estimated $10 million in total funding available, with awards ranging from $1 million to $5 million for the 48-month project period, and an average award of $1 million over that period.  We are also continuing to advocate for additional funding for Basic Needs Grants. 

Click here for a full list of institutions (grantees) that have received Basic Needs Grants. 

Click here for a list of past awards with project abstracts

The Child Care Access Means Parents In School (CCAMPIS) Program helps institutions of higher education support campus-based child care programs primarily serving parenting students with low incomes. The program is designed to reduce one of the most significant barriers to persistence and completion for parenting students by helping institutions make child care more available and more affordable while students are enrolled.

The CCAMPIS program is the only federal program dedicated to providing child care assistance for students enrolled in higher education. Other available child care assistance, such as subsidies provided through the Child Care and Development Block Grant and state subsidies, are helpful sources of support but can be challenging for parenting students to access due to restrictive eligibility rules, wait lists, and limited funding.

Grant funds may be used for child care services, including before- and after-school care, and institutions may provide those services directly or through contracted arrangements. Under the Higher Education Act, applicants receive priority for awards when they 1) leverage significant local or institutional resources to support the activities of the grant and 2) use a sliding fee scale to serve a high number of low-income parents pursuing postsecondary education (e.g. lower costs for students based on their income).

 The Department's public website is currently outdated and only lists data from the FY23 cycle. The FY23 cycle awarded 264 grants to institutions, with an estimated annual average award of approximately $317,000 per year. No award data has been posted for FY24 or FY25. The FY26 competition opened on April 20, 2026, with approximately 148 awards expected and an estimated $73.5 million in total funding available, resulting in an estimated annual average award of approximately $500,000 per year. 

CCAMPIS grants are made in four-year grant award cycles. However, unlike other competitive grants, CCAMPIS awards are disbursed annually and are subject to continued Congressional appropriations, rather than being awarded “upfront” and then drawn down over the four years. Grantees do not need to reapply for their grants during their four-year award cycles. However, due to this funding model, grantees could have their funding interrupted if Congressional appropriations are significantly reduced or delayed.

Community colleges receive a substantial share of CCAMPIS awards; a Joint Center analysis found that 45% of CCAMPIS grants awarded between academic years 2017–2018 and 2021–2022 went to community colleges. Many grantees also serve large numbers of Pell-eligible students. Institutions interested in future opportunities should monitor the Department’s CCAMPIS program page, the Federal Register, and Grants.gov for the next notice inviting applications, which has been announced for FY26.

The Garrett Lee Smith (GLS) Campus Suicide Prevention Grant is administered by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and supports a comprehensive, evidence-based, public health approach to improving student mental health and preventing suicide on college campuses.

The program is designed to enhance behavioral health services for students, including those at risk for suicide, depression, serious mental illness, serious emotional disturbance, and substance use disorders; reduce suicide and related behavioral health risks; promote help-seeking behavior; and improve identification and treatment of at-risk students so they can successfully complete their studies. Because student mental health and basic needs challenges significantly overlap, this program may also support campus strategies that identify students facing housing or food insecurity as part of broader risk-reduction and referral efforts.

The program typically requires a $1 non-federal “match” for every $1 awarded in federal funds, but that requirement has been waived by Congress for minority-serving institutions and community colleges in recent fiscal years—as requested by The Hope Center and other student mental health advocates.

Grants have been primarily awarded to public 4-year and private non-profit 4-year institutions, but the match waiver will hopefully allow additional community colleges to apply. Of those institutions that received funding in recent fiscal years, several recipients made a connection between mental health and student basic needs by identifying students experiencing food/housing insecurity as an at-risk population and using funding to help connect students to basic needs services.

Click here for a list of FY24 and FY25 GLS Campus Grant recipients. 

The Postsecondary Student Success Grant Program (PSSG), first funded in FY 2022, supports evidence-based initiatives designed to improve postsecondary student outcomes, including retention, transfer, credit accumulation, and completion. It is housed within the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) at the U.S. Department of Education and is currently administered by the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor under an interagency agreement. 

The FY26 competition offers two funding tracks based on an institution's stage of evidence-building. Early phase grants are for institutions proposing a strategy supported by evidence that at least Demonstrates a Rationale, with a plan to complete a project evaluation that meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) standards with or without reservations. Mid phase grants are for institutions with a strategy supported by Moderate Evidence, a plan to scale to multiple sites and/or a large number of students, and a plan to complete an evaluation meeting WWC standards without reservations.  

The track an applicant chooses determines both the evidence standard required and the award size. Because unmet non-tuition costs can affect persistence and completion, institutions can position basic needs-related work within broader evidence-based student success strategies, so long as the proposed project is grounded in the required evidence base. Comprehensive approaches to student success—including remedial reforms that provide support for child care, transportation, and textbooks—have a strong evidence base. 

The program did not hold an open competition in FY 2024; instead Congress funded down the slate from the prior year. However, in FY 2025, the Administration diverted funding away from PSSG and other Congressionally-authorized FIPSE programs and toward special projects. Congress restored the program for FY 2026, and the competition opened on May 28, 2026, with applications due June 29, 2026.. 

The FY26 competition reflects the Trump Administration's emphasis on workforce development and evidence-based practice. All applications must address two sets of “absolute” priorities to be considered for funding. First, applicants must meet one of two evidence priorities — either early phase (Demonstrates a Rationale) or mid phase (Moderate Evidence) — which determines the funding track and award size. Second, applicants must address one of four content priorities: 

• Advancing the appropriate and ethical use of AI technology to support postsecondary student success.  

• Supporting career pathways and workforce readiness, including industry-recognized credentials and work-based learning opportunities.  

• Developing or expanding high-quality short-term programs aligned with Workforce Pell Grant requirements.  

• Supporting college-to-career pathways, including career-connected learning, credential mapping, and advising. 

Applicants should review the full competition carefully to ensure their proposed project meets both sets of absolute priorities before applying. Additionally, projects carried out by qualifying state entities can receive up to 10 competitive preference priority points. 

Institutions interested in applying to the FY26 competition should apply through Grants.gov under Funding Opportunity Number ED-GRANT-26-038 by June 29, 2026. Note that the FY26 competition requires a 10% match, which may include in-kind donations, and caps indirect cost reimbursement at 8% of a modified total direct cost base. 

Click here for a list of prior PSSG grantees, including abstracts. 

The Rural Postsecondary & Economic Development (RPED) Program supports projects designed to improve rates of postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and completion among rural students. The program is funded through the U.S. Department of Education, but, under an interagency agreement, is currently administered by the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor.  

The program is available to eligible institutions of higher education and non-profit partners working to strengthen postsecondary opportunity and regional economic mobility in rural communities. The program also connects to basic needs in important ways. In many rural communities, students’ ability to enroll in college, remain enrolled, and complete a credential is shaped not only by academic opportunity, but also by whether they can navigate practical barriers such as high transportation costs, limited child care and housing availability, and insufficient access to broadband internet and technology. By supporting coordinated, place-based strategies that help rural students persist and succeed, RPED can strengthen institutional and community capacity to reduce these barriers as part of a broader student-success and workforce-development agenda.  

Like the Basic Needs Grant, the Trump Administration has placed a significant emphasis on workforce development in the FY26 competition. The FY26 competition includes three new “absolute” priorities that all applications must address to be considered for funding:  

• The first requires applicants to demonstrate they propose to serve a rural community or institution. 

• The second requires the project to provide work-based learning opportunities — such as internships, externships, pre-apprenticeships, registered apprenticeships, or mentorships — for which students receive wages, academic credit, or both. 

• The third requires the project to support career pathways and workforce readiness, which may include promoting industry-recognized credentials, expanding registered apprenticeships, or developing short-term programs aligned with high-skill, high-wage, in-demand sectors. 

Applicants should review the full competition carefully to ensure their proposed project meets all three absolute priorities before applying. Additionally, projects identified, designated, or endorsed by a Governor or chief State education official can receive up to 10 competitive priority points.  

In FY 2023, at least 8 of the 22 new RPED awards explicitly incorporated student basic needs supports, including housing, child care, transportation, financial aid guidance, technology access, and wraparound referrals. In FY 2024, at least 10 of the 21 new awards did so, most commonly through technology and internet access, housing, child care, transportation, FAFSA/financial aid support, wraparound services, or other basic daily living supports. The FY26 competition opened on May 21, 2026, with an estimated $45 million in total funding available and approximately 20 awards expected. Awards are expected to range from $1.5 million to $2.5 million, with an estimated average award of $2.25 million over four years. Applications are due June 23, 2026.  

Institutions interested in applying to the FY26 competition should apply through Grants.gov under Funding Opportunity Number ED-GRANT-26-036 by June 23, 2026. 

Click here for a list of institutions (grantees) that have received the RPED Grant, including the project abstracts.

Congressional earmarks go by different names— “Community Project Funding” (CPF) in the U.S. House of Representatives and “Congressionally Directed Spending” (CDS) in the U.S. Senate—but they refer to the same basic mechanism: funding requested by Members of Congress for projects in their districts and states that are included in annual appropriations legislation. For colleges and universities, earmarks are a highly accessible avenue to seek support for projects related to student basic needs and postsecondary success.

These requests are received and processed by Congressional offices and submitted to the appropriations committees for consideration. Committee leaders then place the projects that qualify into their proposed appropriations bills. The applicable federal agencies implement the funding after enactment.

Eligibility and procedural rules vary by chamber and account, but several guardrails are consistent. In both the House CPF and Senate CDS processes, project funding may not be directed to for-profit recipients, and Members must publicly certify that neither they nor their immediate family have a financial interest in the requested project. Members may request funding for state, local, or Tribal governmental grantees and certain eligible non-profits, subject to subcommittee-specific rules. Members are typically required to publish their requests on their own websites for transparency.

For the last few years, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee has not accepted education-related Community Project Funding requests, while the Senate has continued to accept and publish Congressionally Directed Spending items for the entire bill (including education requests). This means that education earmarks are disproportionately secured via Senators.

A full list of earmarks made for Fiscal Year 2026 is available here (under “Funded Projects). Note that higher education recipients are found in a range of accounts, including:

• Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS-ED)
• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD)
• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related  Agencies (Ag)
• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS)

Basic needs projects are most commonly funded from the LHHS and THUD accounts. Click here for a list of student basic needs related projects included in the FY26 bill.

Institutions interested in securing earmarks should check the websites of their U.S. Representative(s)—including those that may represent satellite or branch campuses—and Senators early in the appropriations process and follow each office’s submission procedures. It is often valuable to prepare for earmark requests at least one year in advance.

In the House, the Appropriations Committee opened its FY 2027 submission portal on February 25, 2026, limited Members to 20 Community Project Funding requests across bills, and set the Labor-HHS-Education CPF deadline for March 27, 2026 (the deadline for Members to submit their requests to House Appropriations). In the Senate, the current centralized public guidance is the FY 2027 Appropriations Requests and Congressionally Directed Spending page, which states that the Committee continued accepting CDS requests from Senators through mid-to-late April 2026.

Individual offices for each Member of Congress have their own deadlines for receiving earmark requests, which come many weeks before the deadline for that office to transmit their request to the appropriations committees. Stay on the lookout for updates from your Member of Congress or check their websites regularly.