After the federal government pumped millions of dollars into distance learning initiatives at schools and colleges throughout the country during the pandemic, institutions have continued to seek external funding sources to expand and innovate in these domains. Funding opportunities for these programs abound and those who know where to look, and how to submit competitive applications can secure substantial capital to continue to excel in the world of distance education. Here’s what every distance education leader needs to know to improve their grant seeking strategies for distance learning.
Where and How to Look for Funding
A common error that grantseekers make is getting consumed by the onslaught of available information. Knowing how to distill the long list of open programs on sites like Grants.gov down to only those from relevant agencies that fund education institutions and have shown an interest in distance learning is essential. This includes agencies like the Department of Education (ED) but also others such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). As a general rule, agencies that have shown a broad interest in student learning also have a general interest in distance learning. Grant funders ultimately want to finance new and innovative techniques that improve a variety of learning metrics, and distance learning initiatives can readily fit within this overall goal of innovative learning. It is up to the grantseeker, then, to draw clear connections between their distance learning initiative, and how it is helping to improve the metrics for which the grant funder cares the most.
Beyond looking at available grant opportunities, another important consideration institutions should keep in mind is to ensure that they can accurately articulate what federal programs are seeking to accomplish when they fund distance learning initiatives and matching their project to those aims. There are three main arenas where federal funding helps expand distance learning opportunities: educational access, learning support, and collaboration between multiple institutions.
Expanding Access:
Expanding access for students to learning experiences regardless of their physical location is a primary purpose for distance education, and there are multiple federal funding opportunities that support these efforts. Programs such as the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program from the Rural Development Office of the USDA provides funding to expand distance learning opportunities to users in rural locations. Access is a major component used to consider the competitiveness of proposals, with projects needing to meet a threshold of end-user sites that are sufficiently rural and have a population with a high percentage of socioeconomical disadvantaged residents. Many institutions of higher education and school districts have received funding for dual-credit enrollment program and adult learning upskilling projects, all with the goal of expanding educational access.
Expanding Support:
There is an interest among a variety of grant funders to raise the persistence and graduation rates of students across several demographics. While these programs often fund on-site support staff or expanded learning opportunities, distance learning support is another key avenue institutions can consider. Programs such as the Improving Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education from the NSF have supported distance learning initiatives that provide students with remote remedial and peer support with STEM classes as part of an institution’s comprehensive approach to enhance the student learning environment in the sciences.
Expanding Collaboration:
Funders want to ensure that their investment in grant projects has every chance to succeed and one way they do this is through encouraging grantseekers to partner with other institutions and industries. Partnerships enable grant projects to have shared expertise, broadened community support, and established pathways for students to acquire marketable skills and gainful employment. Collaboration with these partners may be done in person, though it is often more cost-effective for institutions to collaborate remotely. Programs like the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants Program from the Employment and Training Administration of the DOL fund these kinds of collaborations and institutions can include remote capabilities needed for these partnerships in their budget.
Increasing Competitiveness for Distance Learning Funding
The most important step grantseekers can take to increase their competitiveness for funding is to match the overall focus of their project to the overall focus of the grant program to which they are applying. If an institution’s initiative is largely centered on expanding support for students, applying for the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program is not going to be a winning strategy. Likewise, an institution applying to the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program for a project focused only on expanding access to a variety of students will likely not succeed. Ensuring that you apply to programs whose focus aligns with your project’s focus is step one in increasing competitiveness.
Additionally, an institution can increase their competitiveness for a grant program by giving attention to an agency’s priorities. Many grantseekers assume that simply because they are eligible to apply for a program that they stand a reasonable chance to be awarded funding. It’s important to keep in mind that most agencies will receive far more proposals for a program than they can fund with their limited award budget. With an abundance of applicants, these programs will then turn to their agency priorities, and these are often stated in the applications themselves. To increase the competitiveness of an application, institutions should pay attention to any stated priorities of a grant program and align their project with these priorities, if possible. Of course, this is not always feasible based on an institution’s strengths and qualifications, but this is where alignment between a program’s focus and a project’s focus is essential.
Distance learning will continue to play a key role in the American education, and institutions that are on the forefront of its evolution will play a role in shaping its importance to education policy. Funding is a constant challenge, but exceptional leaders find ways to expand their options and grants are a key avenue to consider. Now is the time for distance learning leaders to think boldly about funding, partnerships, and federal and state grants that can extend their institution’s reach and effectiveness.
Dr. Marc Smithers is a Grants Development Associate for Grants Office, LLC. He has fourteen years of experience in higher education administration, helping with pre-award development and post-award implementation. In his role at Grants Office, Marc specializes in higher education funding, providing research and support for grants for technology-rich projects. He has led sessions at various conferences and has presented on several webinars detailing grant seeking strategies for colleges and universities.
