Grants to academic departments and programs of institutions

The Secretary shall make grants to academic departments, programs and other academic units of institutions of higher education that provide courses of study leading to a graduate degree, including a master’s or doctoral degree, in order to enable such institutions to provide assistance to graduate students in accordance with this subpart. The Secretary may also make grants to such departments, programs and other academic units of institutions of higher education granting graduate degrees which submit joint proposals involving nondegree granting institutions which have formal arrangements for the support of doctoral dissertation research with degree-granting institutions. Nondegree granting institutions eligible for awards as part of such joint proposals include any organization which— The principal criterion for the award of grants shall be the relative quality of the graduate programs presented in competing applications. Consistent with an allocation of awards based on quality of competing applications, the Secretary shall, in awarding such grants, promote an equitable geographic distribution among eligible public and private institutions of higher education. The Secretary shall award a grant under this subpart for a period of 3 years. The Secretary shall award a grant to an academic department, program or unit of an institution of higher education under this subpart for a fiscal year in an amount that is not less than $100,000 and not greater than $750,000. Whenever the Secretary determines that an academic department, program or unit of an institution of higher education is unable to use all of the amounts available to the department, program or unit under this subpart, the Secretary shall, on such dates during each fiscal year as the Secretary may fix, reallot the amounts not needed to academic departments, programs and units of institutions which can use the grants authorized by this subpart. The Secretary shall make new grant awards under this subpart only to the extent that each previous grant recipient under this subpart has received continued funding in accordance with subsection (b)(2)(A). To the extent that appropriations under this subpart are insufficient to comply with paragraph (1), available funds shall be distributed by ratably reducing the amounts required to be awarded under subsection (b)(2)(A).