The national need for higher education research has increased over the years with the growth of societal issues. Funding for this research is often acquired through competitive grant proposals due to the lack of internal funding in most universities. The skills required to write the grant are sometimes lacking and represented in current literature as a barrier to attaining grants. Informal grant proposal education often comes in the form of "learn as you go" or through unstandardized online tools or communications. Formal grant proposal education, often presented in undergraduate or graduate education, or through formal grant-funding organization workshops, are often mentioned in current literature as a way to increase the opportunity for a successful grant application. According to the literature, there was a need to determine the current status of grant proposal education. The purpose of this study was to determine whether, and how, higher education faculty members have been educated on how to seek out and apply for external grant funding, and whether or not the area of study they specialize in influences formal versus informal grant proposal writing education for faculty members. According to the results, faculty are educated both formally and informally in various settings, the discipline was significantly related to type of grant proposal education received, and informal education, rather than formal grant proposal preparation, tended to be more successful in number of grants and total dollars attained for this sample of the population. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]