This handbook outlines the options and requirements for federal support for tech prep in the Perkins law. It explains what educators must do and not do to assure compliance with all the law's mandates and to avoid audit exceptions. The guide also covers new tech prep provisions that were included in the Higher Education Act of 1992. Discussed in the guide's nine chapters are the following topics: the U.S. Congress and tech prep, the state-administered program under Title III, the national program under Title III, the basic grant program, the state leadership program, demonstration programs under Title IV, the Higher Education Act program, audit issues, and the audit process. The following legal authorities are presented in the first of the guide's seven appendixes: Perkins Act, Title III, Part E; Perkins Act, Section 235; Perkins Act, Title II, Part A; Higher Education Act, Titles I and V; Perkins Regulations, Parts 405 and 406; and Perkins Act, Section 118(c). Included in the remaining appendixes are the following: letters and memos issued by the U.S. Department of Education in response to questions raised about tech prep, names/addresses of state tech prep coordinators, a 23-item tech prep resources directory, notes on preparatory services requirements, overview of cost principles and grant administrative requirements, and descriptions of nine model tech prep education projects under Title IV. (MN)