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Grant Opportunities to Counter COVID's Effect on College Access

Grant Opportunities to Counter COVID-19's Effect on College Access

Reversing years of hard-won gains, the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased the number of new high school graduates who are applying for financial aid and enrolling directly into postsecondary education. Students of color and students from low-income backgrounds are experiencing the largest declines in Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion and postsecondary enrollment.

The situation is urgent because research has shown students who delay postsecondary enrollment after high school are 64% less likely than their "on-time" peers to complete a bachelor's degree and 18% less likely to complete any college credential.

To respond to this historic and inequitable disruption of the high school to college pipeline, The Kresge Foundation has invested $1.5 million in an NCAN grant program to increase fall 2021 postsecondary enrollment for students in the high school classes of 2020 and 2021.

Two types of grants are available: one to amplify state-level FAFSA completion initiatives, and one to enhance local postsecondary advising and matriculation support. See the information below for details on eligibility, the grant amounts and timeline, and more.

Learn more about:  FAFSA Completion Grants  |  Postsecondary Advising Grants

State-Level FAFSA Completion Support Grants

Grant Overview

NCAN will award between 10 and 15 grants of $25,000 to $50,000 to state initiatives that demonstrate a strong plan for increasing Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completions for the high school class of 2021, and any members of the class of 2020 that they may be able to reach, by Aug. 31, 2021.

Time is of the essence to help ensure that students in the class of 2021 fill out their FAFSAs, and that the class of 2020 is re-engaged as much as possible.

Fortunately, the college attainment field’s focus on FAFSA in the last several years has yielded a burgeoning group of state-level FAFSA completion initiatives using proven or evidence-based strategies. These initiatives typically deploy real-time student-level, school-level, and district-level FAFSA completion data available from a state education agency to 1) spur awareness of low completion rates and 2) support districts and their nonprofit partners to identify and target assistance to students who have not completed. In some cases, state initiatives also incent friendly competition among schools and districts to raise their rates or provide human or even technology-mediated resources to help students and families with FAFSA completion.

All funded grant projects must include the strategic use of data to target FAFSA completion support.

Grant funds may be used to support activities that increase FAFSA completion for the high school graduating class of 2021 (and the class of 2020 where possible.) We encourage prospective grantees to review the following resources that offer some ideas on statewide and other FAFSA completion strategies:

Eligibility Guidelines

Lead applicants must be an organization with statewide reach. Examples include a state higher education or K-12 agency, or an NCAN statewide college access/attainment network. The lead applicant does not need to be an NCAN member.

Application Review

NCAN’s proposal review process will favor applicants that include a cross-sector of partners such as state agencies, K-12 entities, statewide college access/attainment networks, state- or community-based college access/attainment organizations, statewide GEAR UP or TRIO programs, or business/civic organizations.

NCAN will only accept one application from each state, so partnership and collaboration will be paramount to successful proposals.

Allowable Grant Expenses

  • Staff time for initiative coordination, communications, or student assistance
  • Professional development or training related to FAFSA completion
  • Technology needs to process and share state FAFSA completion data or connect effectively with students
  • Incentive prizes for districts meeting certain completion benchmarks

Grant Timeline

  • March 5, 2021: Grant application released
  • March 26, 2021 (9:00 p.m. ET): Application deadline
  • April 9, 2021: Successful applicants notified
  • Aug. 31, 2021: Grant work concludes
  • Oct. 31, 2021: Final grant report due to NCAN

NCAN Support Role

  • Administer the grant application and award process
  • Coordinate strategic national communications about the initiative and importance of increasing FAFSA completion this year
  • Provide advice and consultation to grantees as needed
  • Share periodic blog posts or other communications with the field about model practices
  • Provide guidance to non-participating applicants that seek information about how to implement similar initiatives

Grant Application

The application is available here. The application is designed as a Google Form and must be completed in one sitting. We suggest you review this Word document version of the application and prepare your responses so that you can fill out the Google Form application in a single session.

If you have questions regarding the project or application, please contact Sara Melnick, NCAN deputy director, at melnicks@ncan.org.

Local Postsecondary Advising and Matriculation Support Grants

Grant Overview

NCAN will award between 10 and 15 grants of $50,000 to $100,000 in cities to increase fall 2021 postsecondary enrollment for the high school classes of 2021 and 2020.

The grants will focus on strategies/activities that will support the class of 2021 with completing the necessary steps in the college admission and financial aid processes for a smooth matriculation to a postsecondary institution for fall 2021.

Simultaneously, the organization must implement strategies/activities to support the class of 2020, with the goals of re-engaging those who did not enroll in college immediately upon high school graduation and supporting persistence for those who did enroll.

Applicants will need to involve partners such as school districts, higher education institutions, community-based organizations, or other stakeholders in this work.

Eligibility Guidelines

Applicants must meet the following guidelines to submit an application:

  • The lead applicant must be a current NCAN member, as of the grant application deadline.
  • The applicant and partners must serve students in a U.S. urban area (defined as within a Metropolitan Statistical Area).
  • The applicant must have access to National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) data for the district or cohort of students they serve. They must have data for the classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 (by December 2021). If the applicant has access to a database of equivalent enrollment information, that will also be sufficient.

Application Review

NCAN’s proposal review process will favor applicants that:

  • Represent an existing cross-sector collaborative already working together to improve students’ postsecondary outcomes (school district, nonprofit, and/or local higher education institutions).
  • Serve a high percentage of students from low-income backgrounds and/or students of color (defined as free/reduced-price lunch eligible, Pell Grant eligible, Title I eligible, or other demographic data).
  • Are experienced in using NSC data to identify unenrolled students, understand local enrollment trends, advise students about postsecondary options, and pinpoint bottlenecks in seamless postsecondary transition.
  • Have permission to use the school district’s student contact information records (or can otherwise access significant volume of student/graduate contact information).
  • Are already or are planning to provide a surge in personalized postsecondary advising and transition support to targeted students on some range of activities during 2021 (e.g., postsecondary admission and financial aid applications, award letter interpretation, financial aid appeals, access to relevant public benefits/transportation/child care, deposit waivers, or enrollment tasks).
  • Engage local postsecondary institutions or other high-volume historic receiving institutions, especially public institutions, to streamline the admissions, financial aid, enrollment, and orientation processes.

Allowable Grant Expenses

  • Personnel (staff or contractors)
  • Technology support for students
  • Data tracking/acquisition
  • Training
  • Event/meeting expenses
  • Other (student incentives, prizes, etc.)
  • Indirect (10% limit)

Grant Timeline

  • March 5, 2021: Grant application released
  • March 26, 2021(9:00 p.m. ET): Application deadline
  • April 9, 2021:  Successful applicants notified
  • Dec. 31, 2021: Grant work concludes
  • Feb. 28, 2022: Final grant report due to NCAN

NCAN Support Role

  • Administer the grant application and award process
  • Coordinate strategic national communications about the initiative and importance of increasing postsecondary enrollment this year
  • Provide advice and consultation to winning applicants as needed
  • Share periodic blog posts or other communications with the field about model practices
  • Provide guidance to non-participating applicants that seek information about how to implement similar initiatives

Grant Application

The application is available here. The application is designed as a Google Form and must be completed in one sitting. We suggest you review this Word document version of the application and prepare your responses so that you can fill out the Google Form application in a single session.

If you have questions regarding the project or application, please contact MorraLee Keller, Director of Technical Assistance at kellerm@ncan.org.

Read a post on the NCAN blog announcing these grant opportunities made possible by The Kresge Foundation.