Education and Labor Departments Launch First Joint Grant Competition
March 18, 2026 · 2 min read
Jared Klein
The Trump administration's plan to merge federal education and workforce programs crossed a concrete milestone on March 17. The Departments of Education and Labor announced the first grant competition under their new Postsecondary Education Partnership, beginning with the Talent Search program — a TRIO initiative that helps low-income and first-generation students access postsecondary education and training.
The move positions the Department of Labor as what ED Secretary calls "the central hub for America's postsecondary education and workforce development programs," a structural shift that will reshape how billions in education grants flow.
What Is Changing for Grantees
The most immediate change: awards will now be issued through DOL's GrantSolutions platform rather than ED's traditional grants management system. For current and prospective grantees, this means new account registrations, different reporting interfaces, and potentially different compliance requirements.
The partnership addresses what the administration calls a shortage of more than 700,000 skilled workers by integrating postsecondary education programs with workforce training — including Registered Apprenticeships, which have been a White House priority.
Additional competitions are expected later this spring and summer, covering more of ED's TRIO programs and potentially other postsecondary initiatives being transferred to DOL.
Why Grant Seekers Should Pay Attention
This is not a cosmetic reorganization. With Title I, II, III, and IV programs migrating to Labor, mental health and community school grants shifting to HHS, and Native American education funding going to Interior, the entire topology of federal education funding is being redrawn.
Organizations that have built relationships with ED program officers will need to cultivate new contacts at DOL. Grant management systems, reporting timelines, and compliance frameworks may all change. The Talent Search competition is the first test case for how smoothly — or roughly — these transitions will go.
Granted tracks these shifts across federal agencies and can help education organizations navigate the changing landscape. More analysis of the ED-DOL partnership is available on the Granted blog.