Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) Partnership Grants

Overview

The GEAR UP program is a discretionary grant program that encourages eligible entities to provide support, and maintain a commitment, to eligible students from low-income backgrounds, including students with disabilities, to assist the students in obtaining a secondary school diploma (or its recognized equivalent) and to prepare for and succeed in postsecondary education. Under the GEAR UP program, the Department awards grants to two types of entities: (1) States and (2) Partnerships consisting of at least one degree-granting institution of higher education (IHE) and at least one local educational agency (LEA).

This notice contains three competitive preference priorities. 

These priorities are: 
Competitive Preference Priority 1— Increasing Postsecondary Education Access, Affordability, Completion, and Post-Enrollment Success (up to 5 points). Projects that are designed to increase postsecondary access, affordability, completion, and success for underserved students by establishing a system of high-quality data collection and analysis, such as data on persistence, retention, completion, and post-college outcomes, for transparency, accountability, and institutional improvement. 

Competitive Preference Priority 2— Meeting Student Social, Emotional, and Academic Needs (up to 5 points). Projects that are designed to improve students’ social, emotional, academic, and career development, with a focus on underserved students, through fostering partnerships, including across government agencies (e.g., housing, human services, employment agencies), local educational agencies, community-based organizations, adult learning providers, and postsecondary education intuitions, to provide comprehensive services to students and families that support students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs, and that are inclusive with regard to race, ethnicity, culture, language, and disability status.
 
Competitive Preference Priority 3— Moderate Evidence (0 or 3 points). Applications supported by evidence that meets the conditions in the definition of ‘‘moderate evidence’’ (as defined in this notice). Note: To address the priority, an applicant may submit up to two study citations that it believes supports the implementation of a GEAR UP authorized activity proposed in the application and that meet the moderate evidence standard. 

The proposed studies must be cited in the section of the application that addresses Competitive Preference Priority 3 as well as on the Evidence Form. Applicants should also describe (1) the project component(s) from the cited research they intend to implement in their GEAR UP project, (2) the relevant outcome(s) that are included in both the study (or WWC practice guide or intervention report) and in the proposed project, (3) the research findings suggesting a favorable relationship between the project component and the relevant outcome, and (4) how the population and/or settings in the cited research overlap with that of the proposed project. The Department will review the research cited by the applicant to determine if it meets the requirements for moderate evidence, as well as whether it is sufficiently aligned with the proposed project.

Given the changes to the competitive priorities, the Department will not consider applications submitted prior to June 11, 2025. Applicants that have already timely submitted an application under the FY 2025 GEAR UP Partnership competition must resubmit an updated application on or before the reopened application deadline of June 25, 2025 for the application to be reviewed. Program staff will endeavor to notify applicants that have already submitted an application of the requirement to submit an updated application.