Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE): Basic Needs for Postsecondary Students Program

Overview

This funding opportunity supports students’ basic needs and prioritizes workforce development priorities as outlined in America’s Talent Strategy. This grant program is intended to provide competitive grants to advance solutions to identify, address, and prevent student basic needs insecurity. 

This competition also invites applications that focus on helping students attain workforce relevant credentials, including degree-connected Registered Apprenticeships (as described in 29 CFR part 29 and 5 CFR 362.102), and earn-while-you-learn pathways in advanced manufacturing, skilled trades, energy, healthcare, and emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI). Equipping students with the ability to understand the impact of AI and effectively use it is critical to creating a more resilient, skilled workforce ready to power national economic resurgence and the reindustrialization of America. 

Achieving these goals requires a modernized postsecondary ecosystem—an ecosystem that is more responsive to labor market demands and better aligned with high-growth, high-wage sectors. Central to this effort is a shift away from one-size-fits-all “college-for-all” models toward more flexible, employer-driven pathways. These pathways emphasize Registered Apprenticeships, short-term and stackable credentials, and other high-quality alternatives to traditional four-year degrees that enable individuals to gain relevant skills and enter or advance in the workforce more efficiently. Expanding access to these pathways—including through the development and scaling of Workforce Pell-eligible programs—is critical to ensuring that more Americans can benefit from affordable, outcomes-oriented training opportunities.

At the same time, rapid advancements in AI are reshaping the nature of work and the skills required across nearly every sector. Strengthening institutional capacity to integrate AI into education and training programs—both as a field of study and as a tool for teaching and learning—is essential. This includes expanding AI literacy, embedding AI-related competencies into curricula, and preparing educators and institutions to adapt to technological change while maintaining a focus on student success and workforce relevance. Applicants are encouraged to propose innovative, results-driven projects that intentionally link basic needs supports to improved completion rates and direct workforce outcomes, recognizing employment as a key component of long-term student success.

This notice includes one competitive preference priority and two invitational priorities. [See full NOFO for details.]

• Competitive Preference Priority (CPP): Returning Education to the States (from 2025 SSPs)
• Invitational Priority 1—Basic Needs Security

Invitational Priority 2—Connecting Students to Work based learning

Estimated Range of Awards: $1,000,000-$5,000,000 for the 48-month project period. 
Average Award: $1,000,000 for the 48 month project period. 
Maximum Annual Award: $5,000,000 for the 48-month project period. 
Estimated number of awards: 2-10. Project Period: 48 months.

Cost Sharing: This program does not require cost sharing or matching.