FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
New England Prison Education Collaborative (NEPEC)
Accelerator Grants Request for Proposals (RFP)
Year 2 (2026)
Note: If you have a question that is not addressed in this FAQ, please reach out to us at nepec@nebhe.org. This webpage may be periodically updated to reflect additional questions we receive.
Q: I’m getting an error when I try to access the linked project budget spreadsheet. How can I access the template?
A: If you are experiencing issues accessing the budget template, please reach out to us at nepec@nebhe.org.
Q: Do I need to create a Blackbaud account to apply for an Accelerator Grant?
A: Yes, all applicants will need to create a Blackbaud account to go through the application process, unless you already have one. Please click on this link for step-by-step instructions.
Q: Who should sign the letter of institutional support? My institution doesn’t use the label president to describe the individual whose leads our executive team.
A: While we have used the word “president” in our RFP and on the proposal form, we understand that not all institutions use that nomenclature. The letter of institutional support should come from the individual who leads your college or university’s executive team. This might be someone with the title “chancellor” instead of “president,” for example.
Q: In the Correctional Facilities Partner(s) Section of the application, we are asked to include information on current formal partnerships with correctional facilities. Who does the term ‘Correctional Lead’ refer to?
A: The ‘Correctional Lead’ refers to the main contact for programming for the higher education institution at each correctional facility in which your institution operates—or will operate—for the proposed project.
Q: The form allows for a maximum of three correctional facility partnerships, but my institution is working or will be working with more than three facilities. Where can I include additional facility information?
A: You can use the form to submit information for the first three facilities. You can then create an addendum to your application by sending the NEPEC Team an email with the remaining facility partnerships and corresponding information for each.
Q: The project my institution is proposing could be seen as fitting under more than one of the eligible activities, but we would only like to submit one application. Can we request support for multiple eligible activities in a single proposal?
A: Each proposal will be evaluated based on its alignment with a single eligible activity, so you should primarily speak to a single eligible activity in your application. In the case described here, your institution should select the activity you feel best describes what you are seeking funding for, although the narrative portion of your application can, of course, touch on your project’s relatedness to/alignment with other eligible areas.
Q: Do any of the questions have a word limit?
A: There is only one question on the form with a word range (Question 2 in Project Details Section), and that range was provided to gesture towards the substantive nature of that response.
Q: Is there a way to save my progress on the Blackbaud application so that I can fill it out intermittently?
A: Yes, your application will be saved automatically. If you want to return later, you can go to this link.
Q: How do I download the project budget spreadsheet?
A: To download the budget spreadsheet, please follow the process below.
Step 1: After clicking on the project budget spreadsheet link included in the application, please press the file button.
Step 2: From the dropdown menu, click on the ‘Create a Copy’ option.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Download a Copy’ button. This will download the sheet as an Excel file on your device.
If you are still experiencing issues downloading the file, please reach out to us at nepec@nebhe.org for further assistance.
Q: For the eligible activities that involve a consortium of institutions (e.g., “A consortium of New England postsecondary institutions seeking to create a multi-state transfer agreement, allowing for the mobility of credits earned in carceral facilities across state lines”) which institution should submit the application?
A: The institution that—in the case of an emerging PEP— would be applying to secure, or —in the case of an existing PEP—has already secured, PEP approval from the U.S. Department of Education should be the institution who completes the Accelerator Grant application.
Q: Does this RFP exclude applications from programs that are planning to offer Pell-eligible programming in jails (instead of prisons)?
A: No, as per the federal regulations from the U.S. Department of Education, institutions can seek PEP approval for a Title IV eligible program of study offered in a correctional facility, which is defined, parenthetically, in September 2024 General Guidance as “federal, state, or local penitentiary, prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, juvenile justice facility, or other similar correctional institution.”
Q: My institution has not yet taken the first step in the PEP approval process; can we still apply for an Accelerator Grant?
A: In this grant cycle, institutions that have not yet begun the PEP approval process are ineligible for funding. here
Q: If my institution is in the PEP approval process but has not yet received a letter of approval from the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) to provide programming at an additional location, are we still eligible for funding?
A: Unfortunately, this cycle of Accelerator Grants requires the applying institutions to have—at a minimum—reached this milestone in the PEP approval process. Therefore, institutions that are still at the very beginning of the approval process are ineligible for the Cycle 2 funding opportunity.
Q: My institution has more than one project idea that would fit within the five eligible activities for Accelerator Grants during Year 2. Are we limited to submitting a single proposal?
A: No, institutions can submit more than one proposal for Accelerator Grant funding in Year 2. As per the RFP, though, no institution will be awarded more than one Year 2 Accelerator Grant.
Q: Do Accelerator Grants only support institutions with programs of study that lead to an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree?
A: No, Accelerator Grants this year support programs of study for Title IV eligible certificate programs as well as those programs of study that lead to an associate or bachelor’s degree.
Q: If my institution runs a privately funded higher education in prison program at present, can we still apply for an Accelerator Grant in Year 2?
A: Unfortunately, in this instance, your institution would be ineligible. All institutions that apply for an Accelerator Grant in Year 2 of this funding opportunity, will need to identify where they are in the PEP approval process, so all institutions who are applying for these funds would either be in the PEP approval process or an existing PEP.
Q: Is there a limit on the percentage of the proposal budget that can go to personnel?
A: No, there is no formal limit imposed upon any line of the proposal budget besides the indirect costs line, which is capped at 15% of the rest of the budget. Because reviewers will be evaluating the budget and the accompanying narrative, you will just want to keep in mind the need to explain sustainability, which could be particularly helpful to support a personnel-heavy proposal budget.
Q: In the event that my institution is successful in its application for a Year 2 Accelerator Grant, what is the deadline for us to expend the associated grant funds?
A: The grant agreement will stipulate that grant funds should be expended within the twelve-month grant period, which would mean that these funds should be expended by the end of July 2027.
Q: It doesn’t look like my institution will be able to submit a proposal based on the scope of the five eligible activities that were decided for Accelerator Grants in Year 2 of this funding. Will the RFP be the same next year (2027), or is it possible that the eligible activities for Year 3 will differ at all from those in Year 2?
A: Lucky for you, both the NEPEC Team and the Higher Education in Working Group members we worked with to shape this Year 2 RFP are very open to changing what this funding incentivizes in Year 3 of NEPEC Accelerator Grants in a way that is responsive to regional needs and consistent with the emphasis on holistic student success that underpins all NEPEC’s engagement of higher education institutions.
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The NEPEC Team is here to support you and your institution as you work to apply for Accelerator Grants in Year 2 of this funding opportunity. If you have questions or points of clarification that are not answered here—or if you are interested in individually clarifying some parameter of the Request for Proposals, we completely understand!
We are just an email away at nepec@nebhe.org.