Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE): Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE): Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education (SAIHE) Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425S | ED GRANTS 032921 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for ED GRANTS 032921 001

The Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education (SAIHE) opportunity, listed under ALN 84.425S, is a U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) grant program created to address remaining, unfilled institutional needs caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The central idea is that after the Department allocated other Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) money authorized by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2021 (CRRSAA), some colleges and universities still faced significant COVID-related financial and operational gaps. SAIHE was designed as a targeted, supplemental source of aid for those institutions the Secretary determines have the greatest unmet needs tied to coronavirus impacts, rather than as a broad, formula-style distribution.

The program’s legal authority comes from CRRSAA (Division M of Public Law 116-260), specifically section 314(a)(3). That provision set aside 0.5 percent of a portion of the Education Stabilization Fund for Part B of Title VII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA). The notice describes this set-aside as approximately $113.5 million. Congress’s intent, as reflected in the program description, was to direct extra support to public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education that were not adequately served by earlier CRRSAA HEERF allocations, including examples such as institutions enrolling large graduate student populations and institutions that did not otherwise receive an allocation under CRRSAA.

Eligibility is limited to institutions of higher education as defined in section 101 of the HEA (20 U.S.C. 1001) that are public or private nonprofit. A key point in the description is that proprietary (for-profit) institutions are not eligible for SAIHE even though they could be eligible for certain CARES Act grants; CRRSAA section 314(a)(3) restricts eligibility to institutions eligible under Part B of Title VII of the HEA, which excludes proprietary institutions for this specific program. The opportunity also indicates that applicants must meet the criteria associated with the specific “absolute priority” under which they apply. In other words, eligibility is not just based on being a qualifying nonprofit/public IHE; it also depends on satisfying the priority-specific requirements described in the official Federal Register notice. With the exception of Absolute Priority 4, the Department indicates that institutional eligibility is based on the institution’s six-digit OPEID, which is the federal identifier used for administering Title IV student aid programs.

The Federal Register information tied to this opportunity also includes an administrative correction to the original Notice Inviting Applications (NIA). The Department explains that after publishing the FY 2021 NIA on March 29, 2021 (86 FR 16338), it issued corrections that (1) changed the relevant year for a Pell Grant recipient percentage threshold used for eligibility under Absolute Priority 6 to Fall 2019 (replacing an earlier reference to 2018), and (2) removed language tying eligibility for Absolute Priorities 2 and 5 to the date December 27, 2020 (the CRRSAA enactment date). The correction notice emphasizes that all other requirements and conditions in the NIA remained the same, meaning applicants still needed to follow the original structure of the competition, priorities, and submission rules, with only those specific fixes applied.

In terms of logistics and applicant guidance, the description repeatedly notes that what is provided is only a synopsis and that the controlling requirements are in the official Federal Register application notice. Applicants are directed to consult the Department’s “Common Instructions for Applicants to Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs” (published February 13, 2019, 84 FR 3768) for standard directions on how to obtain and submit applications, along with details such as pre-application steps, application package requirements, performance measures, priorities, and program contacts. The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant competition administered by the Department of Education, and the listing shows an original closing date of April 28, 2021.

Overall, SAIHE (ALN 84.425S) is best understood as a narrowly targeted COVID-era supplemental funding stream aimed at public and nonprofit colleges and universities with the greatest remaining pandemic-related needs after earlier CRRSAA HEERF distributions, using eligibility screens tied to specific absolute priorities and typically keyed to an institution’s OPEID. For any institution considering whether it qualified (and under which priority), the decisive details are in the Federal Register notice and related Department guidance referenced in the synopsis.

• The Department of Education in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE): Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE): Supplemental Assistance to Institutions of Higher Education (SAIHE) Assistance Listing Number (ALN) 84.425S" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 84.425.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-03-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Others.

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