20 U.S.C. § 1070a–11 — Program authority; authorization of appropriations

(a) Authorized grants and contracts. The Secretary^* must run a program of grants and contracts to identify qualified people from disadvantaged backgrounds, prepare them for postsecondary education, support students pursuing it, motivate and prepare students for doctoral programs, and train people who serve or will serve in these programs and projects. (b) Recipients, duration, and size. (1) Recipients. For those purposes, and without regard to section 6101 of title 41, the Secretary may give grants to and make contracts with higher-education institutions; public or private agencies and organizations, including community organizations experienced in serving disadvantaged youth; combinations of them; and, when appropriate, secondary schools. The grants or contracts may support planning, developing, or carrying out one or more services under this division. (2) Duration. Grants and contracts normally last 5 years. The Secretary may give one limited, one-time extension to synchronize awards, on terms consistent with this division. Grants under section 1070a–17 last 2 years. Grants under section 1070a–18 last for a period the Secretary sets. (3) Minimum grants. Unless the institution or agency asks for less, a grant must be at least $200,000, except that a grant under section 1070a–17 must be at least $170,000. (c) Award procedures. (1) An eligible entity seeking a grant or contract must submit the application, information, and assurances the Secretary reasonably requires, in the required form and manner. (2) The Secretary must consider each applicant’s prior high-quality service under the specific program, measured under (f), and the number, percentage, and needs of eligible participants in the area, institution, or school to be served. Prior-experience consideration must be no different from fiscal years 1994–1997, except it is not considered for section 1070a–18 grants. (3) Except for sections 1070a–17 and 1070a–18 and the fraud rule below, awards are made in order of application scores from peer review, adjusted for prior experience. The Secretary cannot assist a program found to have fraudulently used funds under this division. (4) Peer review. As far as practicable, readers must include people from groups underrepresented in higher education, including African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, and Native American Pacific Islanders, including Native Hawaiians. Urban and rural backgrounds must also be represented. Each application must be read by at least three readers who are not Federal employees, other than as application readers. (5) The Secretary cannot limit an entity’s number of applications when additional applications serve different populations or campuses. (6) The Secretary must encourage coordination with other disadvantaged-student programs run by the sponsor, whatever their funding source. A similar existing program cannot by itself make an entity ineligible. A program director may administer other disadvantaged-student programs run by the sponsor. When appropriate, applicants must identify and make available services, including mentoring and tutoring, to foster-care youth, including those who left care after age 13, and homeless children and youths as defined in section 11434a of title 42. (7) For continuing programs, the Secretary must tell the entity the application status at least 8 months before the grant or contract ends. For a successful continuing program, the new award must start immediately after the old one so funding does not stop. For a new program, status must be given at least 8 months before the proposed start date. (8) Review and notice. (A) Within 180 days after August 14, 2008, the Secretary had to issue nonregulatory guidance on applicants’ rights and duties in applying and being evaluated, including access to peer-review comments. The guidance must cover timely submission under the General Education Provisions Act; proper and timely processing; accurate and transparent prior-experience points; peer-review quality and integrity and compliance with Federal law; and accurate and transparent final scores. (B) At least 45 days before each later competition, the Secretary must update and publish that guidance. (C) An applicant may request Secretary review if it has evidence of a specific technical, administrative, or scoring error by the Department^*, its agent, or a peer reviewer in processing or scoring, and otherwise met application requirements. For a technical or administrative error, the Secretary must review and respond promptly; if the Department or its agent erred, the application must be reconsidered in peer review. For an error involving prior-experience points or the final score, the Secretary must review and respond promptly and, if the Department or a peer reviewer erred, quickly adjust the points or score so awards are not delayed. If the Secretary finds that points were withheld for criteria not required by Federal statute, regulation, or guidance, or that a reviewer wrongly found selection information missing, the application goes to a secondary review panel. That panel must review it promptly, and its score replaces the initial score. Panel members must not have reviewed the application originally, must belong to the grant program’s peer-review cohort, and, as far as practicable, must have reviewed at least two earlier competitions for that program. The final score must be adjusted quickly using the panel’s score. To qualify, the applicant must show a scoring error and one of those two specified problems. A Secretary decision under clauses (i)–(iii) cannot be reviewed by another Department officer or employee. A secondary-panel score cannot be reviewed by a Department officer or employee other than the Secretary. As far as appropriations permit, the Secretary must fund applications raised to or above the competition’s cutoff by these adjustments. (d) Outreach. (1) The Secretary must seek applications for programs serving geographic areas and eligible populations underserved by these programs. (2) At least 120 days before the application deadline, the Secretary must notify the entities described in (b) and consult national, State^*, and regional organizations about whom to notify. (3) The Secretary must provide technical training, prioritizing underserved areas and populations. Training covers the authorizing law, goals, required activities, eligibility, application process and deadlines, and developing proposals and applications. It must be offered at conferences, seminars, and workshops at at least 10 sites across the United States so areas with large eligible populations are reached. (4) The Secretary may contract with eligible entities for this outreach. (e) Low-income documentation. (1) For a person other than an independent student, status under (h)(4) may be documented by a signed parent or legal-guardian statement, another government verification, a signed financial-aid application, or a signed United States or Puerto Rico tax return. (2) For an independent student, the statement is signed by the student; the other three choices are the same. (3) Despite this subsection and (h)(4), foster-care youth and homeless children and youths are eligible for programs under sections 1070a–12, 1070a–13, 1070a–14, and 1070a–16. (f) Outcome criteria. (1) For grant competitions beginning on or after January 1, 2009, prior high-quality service is based on the criteria in (2) and (3). (2) Data must be separated for low-income students, first-generation college students, and people with disabilities in the schools and institutions served. (3) Criteria must measure program quality and effectiveness annually and over longer periods. For Talent Search, measure whether objectives were met for total students served, continued secondary enrollment, regular-diploma graduation in the standard time, completion of a rigorous program qualifying students for programs such as Academic Competitiveness Grants, higher-education enrollment, and, as practicable, postsecondary completion. For Upward Bound, measure total service agreed with the Secretary, grades or equivalent, standardized-test performance including State-required tests, secondary retention and graduation, rigorous-program completion, higher-education enrollment, and, as practicable, postsecondary completion. For Student Support Services, measure postsecondary retention; degree completion for bachelor’s institutions or degree/certificate completion and transfer to bachelor’s institutions for other institutions; total service; and remaining in good academic standing. For the postbaccalaureate achievement program, measure total service, appropriate scholarly and research activities, graduate-program acceptance and enrollment, and continued graduate enrollment and doctoral attainment by former participants. For Educational Opportunity Centers, measure enrollment of served people without a secondary diploma in diploma-equivalent programs, enrollment of served graduates in postsecondary programs, total service, and help completing aid and admission applications. (4) The Secretary compares the target in the approved application with the result on the last day of the applicable measurement period. (g) Appropriations. Congress authorizes $900 million for fiscal year 2009 and whatever sums are needed for each of the next five fiscal years. The Secretary may use no more than one-half of one percent for extra readers and application staff, oversight, impact studies, assessments and reviews, and technical help for applicants and grantees. Priority must go to requirements from the Higher Education Amendments of 1992, outreach, and extra readers. (h) Definitions. (1) “Different campus” is a permanent site geographically apart from the main campus that offers courses leading to a degree, certificate, or other recognized credential. (2) “Different population” is a group the entity wants to serve that is separate and distinct from another proposed population, or shares some needs but has distinct needs for specialized services. (3) “First generation college student” is a person whose parents both did not complete a bachelor’s degree, or, if the person lived with and was supported by only one parent, whose only such parent did not complete one. (4) “Low-income individual” is a person from a family whose taxable income in the preceding year did not exceed 150 percent of the Census Bureau poverty level. (5) A veteran cannot be barred from a program because of age if the veteran served on active duty^* more than 180 days and was not dishonorably discharged; left active duty because of a service-connected disability^*; was a reserve member called to active duty for more than 30 days; or was a reserve member on active duty supporting a contingency operation, as defined in section 101(a)(13) of title 10, on or after September 11, 2001. (6) The Secretary may waive the service requirements in (5)(A), (B), or (C) if applying them would defeat a program’s purpose.