Office of Migrant Education details FY2026 HEP and CAMP grant rules, deadlines and award ranges

Jessica Stein, grants officer for the Office of Migrant Education, outlined fiscal year 2026 application requirements and timelines for two federal grant competitions— the High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP).

Stein told applicants the application deadline is June 12, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time and emphasized that “there are no exceptions to the deadline,” urging early submission to avoid technical issues. She provided the grants.gov portal and support contacts and said the slide deck and materials will be posted on the HEP and CAMP application pages.

The Department of Education (ED) requested about $11,550,000 in new awards for HEP and roughly $13,014,675 for CAMP for FY2026. Individual 12‑month awards are expected to range from $180,000 to $550,000; Stein cautioned that ED may reject applications proposing a 12‑month budget below $180,000 or budgets that exceed the stated maximums. ED’s estimate for the competition is 3–4 HEP awards and 4–5 CAMP awards, but Stein noted the Department is not bound to those estimates and may make additional awards if funds and application quality allow.

Eligibility and application structure

Stein said eligible applicants include institutions of higher education as defined in the Higher Education Act and private nonprofit organizations (34 CFR 77.1); non‑IHE nonprofits must plan projects in cooperation with an IHE and may operate projects using IHE facilities. Applicants must propose a five‑year project period and include annual budgets for all five years unless extraordinary circumstances justify a shorter project.

Budget and costs

HEP and CAMP do not require cost sharing or matching, but applicants that propose nonfederal funds and receive an award must provide those funds each year they are proposed. Indirect costs are limited to an entity’s negotiated indirect cost rate or 8 percent of a modified total direct cost base, whichever is less. Stein advised applicants to itemize the “other” budget category to make expenditures—such as stipends, travel, or space rental—clear to reviewers.

Priorities, selection criteria and scoring

For FY2026, HEP includes one absolute priority (providing an HSE program) and three competitive preference priorities (CPPs): prior experience (up to 15 points), expanding education choice (up to 3 points), and career pathways/workforce readiness (up to 3 points). CAMP includes one absolute priority and two CPPs: prior experience (up to 15 points) and career pathways/workforce readiness (up to 5 points). Stein said prior‑experience points are tied to grantees’ prior award performance and administrative compliance under expiring projects.

The project narrative must follow the selection criteria: quality of the project design (up to 55 points), quality of the project evaluation (up to 20 points), quality of the management plan (up to 10 points), and adequacy of resources (up to 15 points). Stein emphasized applicants should organize the narrative in the order of the selection criteria and address subcriteria and evidence requirements clearly.

Performance measures

Applicants must propose annual targets and student enrollment goals. Stein listed ED’s program targets: for HEP, a 69 percent target for participants exiting with a high‑school equivalency credential and an 80 percent target for credential recipients entering postsecondary education, training, upgraded employment or the military; for CAMP, an 86 percent target for completing the first academic year and a 92 percent target for continuing enrollment after the first year.

Review process, terms and conditions, and compliance

Stein said ED staff will screen applications for eligibility and may consider information outside rank order under 34 CFR 75.217 when selecting awards. If two or more applications tie at the funding cutoff, ED may consider equitable geographic distribution among regions. She reviewed terms and conditions, noting that awardees must not use federal funds in ways that violate federal law and that ED may recover funds or terminate awards for unallowable activities; she also referenced recent DOJ non‑regulatory guidance and executive‑order provisions related to nondiscrimination and ‘‘discriminatory equity ideology.’’

Application forms and technical details

Stein walked through required forms and application parts, instructing applicants to complete form SF‑424 first and the ED supplemental information for SF‑424. She gave ALN codes for the competitions (HEP: 84.141a; CAMP: 84.149a), explained the SF‑424A budget sections and year‑by‑year entries for years 2–5, and reminded applicants to use ED‑approved file types per the 2025 common instructions.

How to follow up

Stein closed by directing applicants to grants.gov and the competition email (hepcampfy26ed@ed.gov) for questions and reiterated that the slide deck and application links are posted on the HEP and CAMP application pages. "Thank you for viewing this presentation," she added.