Important information about the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) grant competition for HSIs

Member Advisory - June 13, 2008

HACU recently became aware of a discrepancy between the grant guidelines in the application package and what was published in the Federal Register for the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) grant competition for HSIs.

Specifically, the guidelines state that information in tables, charts, footnotes should be single-spaced.  However, the Federal Register states that everything must be double-spaced, including information in tables.

HACU asked the U.S. Department of Education about this matter. They informed us that the Federal Register takes precedence whenever there is a discrepancy in information. Click here to view the announcement and application (this is the same link HACU provided in our Member Advisory of May 14, 2008).

HSIs will need to follow the guidelines in the Federal Register for the CCRAA-HSI grant competition.  The relevant language in the Federal Register is:

Line Spacing
“Double space (no more than three lines per vertical inch) all text in the application narrative, including  titles, headings, footnotes, quotations, references, and captions, as well as all text in charts, tables, figures, and graphs.” 

Page Limits
“You must limit the section of the narrative that addresses the selection criteria to no more than 35 pages for the Individual Development Grant application and 55 pages for the Cooperative Arrangement Development Grant application.”

Exemptions towards the page limits:
“The page limit does not apply to the cover sheet; the budget section, including the narrative budget justification; the assurances and certifications, or the one-page abstract. We will reject your application if you exceed the page limit.”

The CCRAA-HSI legislation proposes to award $200 million to HSIs during FY 2008 and 2009.  Funds will be awarded to proposals that address science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) education and articulation programs.

These funds represent the single largest competition for HSIs since they were officially recognized under federal statute in 1992.  The DoEd will award approximately 100 two-year grants to HSIs under CCRAA.  (There will not be another competition in 2009.)  The DoEd estimates individual grant awards of approximately $862,000 per year and cooperative grant awards of $1.2 million per year.  The application deadline is June 27, 2008.

HACU Member Advisories are a service of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.