October 30, 2025

Joint Statement Regarding the Postsecondary Student Success Grant Program

As the Trump administration determines how to spend Congressionally appropriated funds for the suite of programs within the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), we, the undersigned 11 organizations, want to express our continued support for allocating appropriated funding for the Postsecondary Student Success Grant program (PSSG) by year’s end. 

The program, which has bipartisan support in Congress, supports college retention and completion initiatives. Secretary of Labor Chavez-DeRemer co-sponsored the House bill to formally authorize PSSG last Congress, and the program has received funding in the three prior fiscal year agreements, the last of which was continued via the March 2025 continuing resolution. Investing in PSSG can help strengthen completion and employment outcomes and reduce the “skills gap” between available jobs and qualified candidates, and aligns with the administration’s emphasis to leverage “DARPA-style experimentation models to test bold new ideas, evaluate real results, scale proven strategies” under the America’s Talent Strategy. Maintaining federal funding allows stakeholders to continue and expand efforts to ensure that students who begin two-year or four-year degree programs complete those programs and achieve career success.

Currently, regions across the U.S. face a “skills” gap between qualified candidates and over 7 million available jobs. We know that improving completion rates for those pursuing two- and four-year degrees is essential to growing local workforce participation. PSSG addresses these issues by building higher education institutional capacity through evidence-based strategies to graduate more students prepared to enter the workforce and become taxpayers. 

Rigorous research demonstrates that when higher education institutions use comprehensive approaches to student success and provide academic, career counseling, and personal services, they improve postsecondary outcomes, graduation rates, employment, and earnings. For example, studies have shown that the CUNY ASAP program nearly doubled the three-year graduation rate for associate degree students, while the Ohio ASAP replication substantially boosted participants’ earnings over the long-term. These programs offer replicable models that can be scaled through continued investment in PSSG. When students progress through school more quickly, not only are they set up for success and financial stability, but it preserves the long-term fiscal viability of vital aid like Pell Grants and strengthens the financial health of state systems of higher education.

To date, 22 grants have been awarded via PSSG. The initial $5 million awarded enabled five institutions in Florida, New Jersey, South Carolina, and Texas to implement and scale programs to strengthen student retention and completion. Subsequent $45 million allocations for PSSG in each of the FY23 and FY24 appropriations packages expanded these vital interventions to additional grantees in California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas. Continued investment is essential to sustain and expand high-impact, evidence-based student success practices, particularly those meeting the high bar for receiving an “expansion” grant under the Education Innovation and Research program criteria based on prior effectiveness.

Continuing to fund Postsecondary Student Success Grants provides colleges and universities with the resources to support students in reaching their postsecondary education goals, closing the workforce skill gaps, and bolstering our economy and nation’s future. We support several courses of action the administration could take to effectuate that goal, including running a new grant competition, funding down the slate based on prior award processes, and/or issuing continuation awards to existing grantees. 

Thank you for your consideration, 

America Forward

Complete College America

EdTrust 

National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs

New America Higher Education Program

Results for America

The Institute for College Access & Success

The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP)

Third Way

Today’s Students Coalition

UnidosUS