# Strengthening predominantly Black institutions (HEA III-A, section 318)

**Agency:** Education  
**Account:** Higher Education  
**Source document:** Higher Education · p. 125  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/education/strengthening-predominantly-black-institutions-hea-iii-a-section-318  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.


## Education discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $76.50B, FY2026 $79.00B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

Strengthening Institutions (Part A, Section 311) authorizes competitions for 1-year planning grants and 5-year development grants. Under SIP, special consideration is given to institutions that (1) have endowment funds with a market value per full-time equivalent student less than the market value of endowment funds per full-time equivalent student at similar institutions, and (2) have below-average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent undergraduate student. Institutions receiving a 5-year grant under this part are not eligible to receive an additional grant under this part until 2 years after the 5-year grant has expired. Institutions may apply to use their SIP funds to support faculty and academic program development; improvement in fund and administrative management; joint use of libraries and laboratories; construction, maintenance, renovation, and improvement of instructional facilities, including strengthening an institution's technological capabilities; student services; and activities designed to improve the financial literacy and economic literacy of students or their families. SIP grantees may use no more than 20 percent of their allocations--which must be matched at a rate of one institutional dollar for each Federal dollar--to establish or increase an institution's To participate in SIP, an institution must award bachelor's degrees or be a junior or community college, provide an education program legally authorized by the State in which it is located, and be accredited or be making reasonable progress toward accreditation. However, the Secretary may waive the eligibility requirements for institutions with below-average educational and general expenditures per full-time equivalent undergraduate student that enroll a significant percentage of financially needy students, as measured by enrollment of Pell Grant recipients or The Strengthening Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) program, authorized by Part A, Section 316 of the HEA, awards 5-year formula based discretionary grants that enable TCCUs to improve and expand their capacity to serve American Indian students. The term "Tribal College or University" means an institution that qualifies for funding under the Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities Assistance Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) or the Navajo Community College Act (25 U.S.C. 640a note); or is cited in Section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note). TCCUs do not have to wait 2 years between grants and thus may be funded continuously. The Department may reserve 30 percent of the funds appropriated for TCCUs to award 1-year grants of at least $1 million for construction, maintenance, and renovation needs at eligible institutions, with a preference given to institutions that did not receive an award in a prior fiscal year. The remaining funds must be allocated using a formula, with 60 percent allocated on the basis of Indian student counts at eligible institutions and the other 40 percent distributed equally among eligible TCCUs. The minimum grant size is $500,000.


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › Education › Higher Education › Higher Education › Aid for institutional development


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*