March 23, 2026

Leading the News this Week

Last chance to secure federal dollars! U.S. House sign-on deadlines for Pell Grants and other key programs start TOMORROW, Tuesday. Read on to the next section for our top priorities.

News in Higher Education

Can you help protect Pell Grants and Community College Funding?

There's a quick and easy step you can take TODAY

Contact your college's members of Congress and urge them to sign the Group Letters to support Pell Grants, Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants (SCCTG), and Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS).

**Click here to email your member of Congress**

New Deadlines: In good news, the U.S. House has extended key deadlines for members of Congress to sign onto group letters supporting key priorities:

• Pell Grants: Republican letter supporting robust funding for Pell Grants and campus-based aid. Deadline extended: Tuesday, March 24, COB (5 p.m. E.T.)
• Pell Grants: Democratic letter to double the Pell Grant maximum: Deadline extended to Thursday, March 26, COB. 
• Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS): Deadline extended to Wednesday, March 25, COB.
• Strengthening Community College Training Grants (SCCTG): Deadline extended to Thursday, March 26, 12 p.m. ET.
• Final submission deadline for all programmatic and earmark requests in Labor-HHS-Education to the Appropriations Committee: Deadline extended to Friday, March 27, 6 p.m. ET. Reach out to your college's members of Congress for the latest on their internal deadlines.

For more background, view ACCT's FY27 Appropriations Resources

Senate Releases Funding Guidance: More Earmark Requests Allowed

Senate Appropriations leaders Chair Susan Collins (ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (WA) released guidance for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) programmatic, language, and Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) - also known as earmark- requests. 

Senators can each submit up to 65 earmark requests in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill. This is a contrast from the House, which is allowing zero earmark requests in LHHS. Within LHHS, some accounts that may be particularly of interest to community colleges could include the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) program (ED) and the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) within the Department of Labor. 

April 21 is the LHHS earmark and programmatic request deadline. Click here for a table of deadlines for submitting FY27 requests across the rest of the appropriations subcommittees. Community colleges may also consider advocating for earmarks in other bills for a wide variety of activities.

After the House deadlines close, ACCT plans to share additional advocacy materials for the Senate funding process. Below are useful tools to further assist in the appropriations process. 

ACCT's FY 2027 Earmarks and Funding Request Tutorial and Slides (Member Restricted)

ACCT's FY 2025 Earmarks Webinar and Slides (Member Restricted)

The FAFSA is Set to Get New Upgrades

In the effort to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) user experience faster and more accessible, the form will see a range of upgrades this summer. These include:

• Updates on how parents without Social Security numbers can input information
• Expedited turnaround of aid information after submission   
• New fraud-detection system to address financial aid fraud

These are in addition to shortening the FAFSA form, which is correlated with a 10 percent increase in high school submitters from 2023 to 2026. 

ED Defines Eligibility to Apply for Grants

The Department of Education (ED) released guidance that indicates how institutions could obtain eligibility when seeking to apply for Title III and Title V grant programs. These Titles cover grants for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP). This particular guidance explicitly mentioned SIP, which offers federal funding for institutions serving predominantly a low-income population. Unlike previous years, the guidance does not mention MSI programs. ED uses enrollment data of needy students and core expenses per FTE student, which is then broken down by institution type to determine if an institution is eligible to apply. 
ACCT's national partner, Seventh Street Strategies, recommends that MSI programs apply for eligibility, even if their eligibility may already be confirmed by ED to give themselves an opportunity to apply for SIP should ED make the decision not to award MSI grants. For more information on SIP, view ACCT's blog here.

Grant Opportunities

Please review the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education's Community College webpage for new grants community colleges are eligible for.

DOL Aims to Award "Pay for Performance" Grant Pilot

At the start of the Trump administration, the Department of Labor (DOL) committed to reaching 1 million active apprenticeships. As part of the administration's agenda, DOL's Employment and Training Administration announced the Pay-for-Performance Incentive Payments Program, which focuses on incentivizing the growth of the National Apprenticeship System in these select industries: Shipbuilding and Defense Industrial Base; Artificial Intelligence (AI), Semiconductor, and Nuclear Energy Infrastructure; Information Technology; Healthcare; Transportation; and Telecommunication. For more information, click here. The deadline for this grant is April 3, 2026, 11:59 PM ET.

TRIO Talent Search Program Grant

Institutions of higher education, such as community colleges, non-profits, and, featured in the FY26 funding cycle, state governments, leverage the Talent Search Program to assist K-12 students from a disadvantaged background pursue and succeed in postsecondary education and job training opportunities. The closing date for this grant competition is May 1, 20226 11:59 PM ET.

Strengthening Community College Training Grants

In this 6th round, the objective of  the Strengthening Community College Training Grant (SCCTG) competition is to fund community colleges aiming to build "program and system capacity for implementing and scaling access to short-term training opportunities through Workforce Pell Grants—i.e., promoting industry-driven strategies, worker mobility, and integration with the larger state workforce system (e.g., Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) partners) for statewide impact."  

The closing date for this grant opportunity is May 20, 2026, at 11:59 PM ET.

• March 24, 5 PM ET  Pell Grants: Deadline for U.S. House Republicans to sign letter supporting robust funding for Pell Grants and campus-based aid. 
• March 25, 5 PM ET Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS): Deadline to sign on to letter to support CCAMPIS funding
• March 26, 12 PM ET Strengthening Community College Training Grants (SCCTG): Deadline to sign on letter to support SCCTG
• March 26, 5 PM ET Pell Grants: Deadline for U.S. House Democrats to sign letter to double the Pell Grant maximum
• March 27, 6:00 PM - Deadline for U.S. House Members to Submit Final Requests to Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee
• March 30, 11:59 PM ET Public comment period closes for the proposed revision on certifications that recipients of federal funding must submit.
• April 1, 11:59 PM PT The Workforce Futures Accelerator: Embedding Real-World Employer Projects in Community Colleges Application Deadline
• April 3, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• April 3, 11:59 PM ET DOL "Pay for Performance" Registered Apprenticeship Grant Due
• April 8 Public Comment Period Closes for AHEAD (Workforce Pell)
• April 14 FAFSA Form 2027-28 comment period closes
• May 1, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• May 1, 11:59 PM ET TRIO Talent Search Program Grant Closes
• May 20, 11:59 PM ET. Strengthening Community College Training Grant Closes
• June 5, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• July 10, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• August 7, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• September 4, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live
• October 2, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live 
• October 21-24 ACCT Leadership Congress
• November 6, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live 
• December 4, 1-2 PM ET LAW Live

Outreach Efforts

Is your institution meeting or hosting an event with federal elected officials?

We created a Congressional Contact Form that will help us track outreach efforts of community college leaders across our membership. By filling out the form, you are better informing ACCT's advocacy efforts and our advocacy team is able to continue those conversations with congressional staff in DC. 

ACCT NOW is the go-to resource for issues affecting community colleges. Our new website features original reporting and research, as well as of-the-moment legislative updates. ACCT NOW also includes articles, reports, and research from outside sources that benefit the ACCT community. Read the Latest Articles on ACCT NOW:

Would you Like a Federal Update Session for Your Team?

Both this new presidential administration and new Congress have brought with them a flurry of developments in the federal landscape that can make keeping up a monumental task. ACCT's Government Relations team is here to help by offering a 45-minute to an-hour federal update session to community college leadership teams who are ACCT members. To request a session, fill out this form and please email publicpolicy@acct.org with any questions.

Have a Question?

Contact us with any questions or concerns about public policy and ACCT's advocacy on behalf of two-year colleges and two-year college trustees. ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts are sent to interested ACCT members to keep you up to date on important legislative activities that impact community colleges.

If you no longer wish to receive ACCT's Latest Action in Washington alerts, reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. For more information about ACCT's advocacy services, visit acct.org/advocacy

Spread the Word.

Please encourage your fellow trustees, presidents and colleagues to stay up to date about legislation that affects their community colleges by joining the Latest Action in Washington (LAW) Alert network. To join, simply register here. 

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