February 14, 2011

U.S. Department of Education

COLLEGE ACCESS AND COMPLETION

To help our nation out-innovate, out-educate, and out-compete the rest of the world, President Obama set an 

ambitious new goal for America: by the end of the decade, America will once again have the highest 

proportion of college graduates in the world. This Administration’s landmark investment in Pell Grants, the 

largest federal scholarship program, is the centerpiece of our proposal to help ensure that more Americans 

enroll in college and earn a degree. This year, the Administration is proposing tough choices to sustain the 

maximum $5,550 Pell grant while responding to increased demand in the program. 

The President’s 2012 budget request and Pell Grant Protection Act would make key investments and enact 

reforms that will lead to better outcomes for students. 

 $123 million for a “First in the World” competition. To improve student outcomes, we need to 

spur the field to come up with innovative solutions to address the completion challenge and improve 

higher education productivity, build evidence of what works through rigorous evaluations, and scale 

up and disseminate those strategies that prove successful. This initiative, funded through FIPSE and 

modeled after the i3 program, would direct the highest level of funding to programs with the 

strongest support in evidence, but also provide significant support for innovative and promising 

programs that are willing to undergo rigorous evaluation. The first year of this competition would 

include priorities for projects that demonstrate the potential to (1) reduce the net price paid by 

students, improve learning outcomes, reduce time to degree, or reduce instructional costs and/or (2) 

improve college access or completion rates, including projects that focus on students with disabilities.

 $1.25 billion for College Completion Incentive Grants. The Pell Grant Protection Act provides 

$50 million in 2012 and $1.25 billion over five years for a new College Completion Incentive Grants 

program that would encourage States to make systemic reforms in their higher education systems and 

would reward institutions that produce successful outcomes. Participating States would set goals for 

increasing the number of college completers and for closing gaps in achievement among vulnerable 

student populations, align high school graduation requirements with participating institutions’ 

expectations for academic preparation, create stronger articulation agreements, ease student transfers, 

and match Federal funds or provide their own performance-based funding for institutions. Payments 

to institutions would be based upon demonstrated success.

 $150 million in funding for State access and completion initiatives. The budget maintains 

mandatory funding for the College Access Challenge Grant program, which provides formula aid to 

States to bolster their access, persistence, and completion activities. 

 $920 million for Federal TRIO Programs. The request would provide a $67 million increase in 

discretionary funding to support college preparation and completion activities for participants in the 

Federal TRIO programs, which provide supports for low-income and first-generation college 

students. 

 $86 million for College Pathways and Accelerated Learning. Part of our proposal for the 

reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this program would help increase 

graduation rates and preparation for college matriculation and success by supporting college-level 
and other accelerated courses and instruction in high poverty-schools. Funds could be used to 

support strategies like expanding the availability of Advanced Placement and International 

Baccalaureate courses, implementing dual-enrollment programs that allow students to take collegelevel classes while in high school, and “early-college high schools” that allow students to earn a high 

school degree and an associate’s degree or 2 years of college credit simultaneously.

 $323 million for GEAR UP. This budget maintains funding for States and partnerships to provide 

early college preparation and awareness activities to entire cohorts of low-income students. Over 

756,000 students will continue to be served by the GEAR UP program, which features partnerships 

with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, and requires matching federal funds with local 

contributions to encourage program sustainability.