Sneak Preview: ED Transfers Higher Ed Grant Program Staff to DOL
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) The Trump administration recently continued efforts to effectively dismantle the Department of Education (ED) by announcing that it is sending staff overseeing higher education grant programs to the Department of Labor (DOL) to meet provisions within a previously signed interagency agreement (IAA) that will transition these programs to DOL.
ED in recent months has signed IAAs to shift responsibilities to DOL for adult education and career and technical education (see “ED/DOL Agreement Revamps Program Responsibilities,” September 2025) and federal K-12 programs and postsecondary education (see “Stakeholders Decry Transition of ED Grant Programs to Other Agencies,” January 2026). The agency also has signed IAAs with other federal agencies (e.g., the departments of the Interior, State, and Health and Human Services) to transition other programs.
Under the postsecondary education IAA, DOL will assist ED in managing grant funds, providing technical assistance and integrating ED’s postsecondary programs with related programs that DOL already administers. “We are proud to begin implementing this historic partnership that will not only create a better coordinated federal approach to postsecondary education and workforce development, but will also ensure that students pursuing higher education pursue programs aligned with their career goals and workforce needs,” said ED Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Barker.
As of Jan. 20, staff in the Higher Education Programs (HEP) division of ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) are being detailed to work at DOL. As staff are fully detailed, HEP grantees will transition to DOL’s Grant Solutions and Payment Management System to align the grants management and payment systems across ED and DOL’s postsecondary and workforce programs.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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