The U.S. Department of Education will reconsider awarding grants to dozens of programs that help low-income students prepare for college after their initial applications were rejected due to formatting errors such as not being double-spaced.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told a House subcommittee on Wednesday in Washington that her agency will reconsider the 77 rejected applications from universities and other organizations that administer Upward Bound programs.
The decision was made after an additional $50 million in funding for such programs was included in the recent omnibus bill to fund the federal government.
The rejections drew bipartisan criticism and a request in the omnibus bill that the Department of Education reconsider those applications.
More than 62,000 high school students around the country receive services through Upward Bound.
Some of the programs with rejected applications have been in existence for up to 50 years.
