FY26 Spending Bill Shields Higher Ed Grants, Lifts EDA by 20%
March 9, 2026 · 2 min read
Jared Klein
The Consolidated Appropriations Act signed in February delivers $79 billion to the Department of Education — a $217 million increase over FY2025 and roughly $12 billion above the administration's request — while handing the Economic Development Administration its largest funding bump in years.
Programs That Survived Elimination Proposals
Congress preserved funding for TRIO, GEAR UP, and Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, rejecting administration proposals to eliminate all three. Title III and Title V funding for minority-serving institutions and HBCUs held steady at $493 million with transfer restrictions, even as the Justice Department challenged the programs' legality.
The Institute of Education Sciences received $790 million — triple the administration's $261 million request. The maximum Pell Grant stays at $7,395 for 2026-2027, blocking proposals to cut over $1,000 per student. Congress also mandated new grant competitions for CCAMPIS child care access and the Open Textbooks Pilot.
The Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention program received a 24 percent boost to $10.5 million — a $2 million increase that campus health advocates had fought for since 2024.
EDA's Economic Adjustment Assistance Jumps 20%
The Economic Adjustment Assistance program under EDA rose to $39.5 million — a $6.5 million increase that expands funding available to universities, local governments, and nonprofits pursuing regional economic development grants. This marks the program's largest year-over-year percentage increase since 2019.
What Grant Offices Should Watch Next
The bill urged NSF to reconsider paused STEM education programs including ADVANCE, LSAMP, and AISL. Research offices should watch for those programs to potentially reopen later in FY26.
For MSIs and HBCUs, Title III/V stability provides a solid planning horizon for upcoming grant cycles. University economic development offices and regional nonprofits should prepare proposals for the next EDA competition, which will draw from the expanded $39.5 million pot.
Navigating these shifting federal priorities is exactly where Granted can surface the right opportunities as new competitions open.