Madison Area Technical College teamed up with other Wisconsin colleges Thursday in seeking up to $20 million from a federal grant program that began taking applicants last week.

The U.S. Department of Labor budgeted $500 million in grants this year through a program aimed at aiding colleges with degree programs taking two years or less to complete.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant would offer single institutions up to $5 million, while groups of colleges are eligible for up to $20 million, U.S. Department of Education spokesperson Sara Gast said.

Madison College joined a group vying for the money because it liked the grant program’s mission of increasing the overall number of college graduates in innovative ways, Ed Clarke, Madison College’s director of grants and special projects, said.

Clarke said negotiations for a joint application in Wisconsin began about two months ago.

The grant request specifically solicits colleges that are working together toward funding, Clarke said.

He added the larger amount of potential earnings provides incentive for colleges to join forces.

“[A group] application would be competitive,” Clarke said. “If the grant application comes from the whole state then a few eyebrows would raise when [the department] reads it.”

The group of applicants is comprised of 16 technical colleges, including Madison College. The group includes all of Wisconsin’s major technical colleges except for Milwaukee, Clarke said.

The grant program was created to progress President Barack Obama’s goal of claiming the highest proportion of college graduations in the world by 2020, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Officials intend to further this goal by seeking proposals that accelerate degree completion in forward-thinking ways, according to the statement.

While the state’s group application has not been written yet, Clarke said the preliminary plan is to help train recently unemployed people, specifically from manufacturing, in the field of information technology.

Many of the recently unemployed have used computers but never programmed before. The group’s idea is to bring people up to speed quickly before the first programming class, Clarke said.

The application deadline is April 21.