Welcome to Our Newest 2026 GEAR UP Grantees

 
 

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced $42 million in new GEAR UP grant awards. One State GEAR UP grant received $5 million, and the remaining $37 million was awarded to 19 Partnership GEAR UP grants.

These awards were drawn from the rank-ordered pool of unfunded applicants from the 2025 competition. As a reminder, the 2025 cycle was highly competitive, and many strong applicants, including some with perfect scores, were not funded. Of the 20 new awardees, 7 are joining the GEAR UP community for the first time, and we're glad to welcome them.

Below is the roster of new GEAR UP grantees and their first-year budgets, listed alphabetically by state and then by organization name.

State Grants

  • LA—Louisiana State University—$5,000,000

Partnership Grants

  • AL—The University of Alabama in Huntsville—$538,541

  • CA—California State University, Fullerton—$932,000

  • CA—California State University, Fullerton—$360,000

  • CA—University of California, Davis—$1,822,400

  • FL—Duval County School Board—$2,200,000

  • FL—The School Board of Polk County—$1,528,000

  • HI—University of Hawaiʻi—$672,000

  • HI—University of Hawaiʻi—$560,000

  • KY—Fayette County Public Schools—$1,744,000

  • NC—Appalachian State University—$5,000,000

  • NC—Iredell-Statesville Schools—$1,227,329

  • NV—University of Nevada, Las Vegas—$3,768,891

  • NV—University of Nevada, Las Vegas—$2,270,513

  • OR— Multnomah Education Service District—$5,128,000

  • SC—Beaufort County School District—$412,000

  • TN—Bradley County Schools—$1,701,545

  • TX—DeSoto Independent School District—$1,073,600

  • WA—Washington State University—$4,164,800

  • WA—Washington State University—$1,949,600

Luis Gonzalez