Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants
The Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 (HERA) created The Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant for full-time students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant. Congress has funded the grants for award to eligible students beginning July 1, 2006.
The ACG is available for first-year students who graduated from high school after January 1, 2006, and for second-year students who graduated from high school after January 1, 2005. The National SMART Grant is available during the third and fourth years of undergraduate study.
Academic Competitiveness Grant recipients must:
- Be a U.S. Citizen
- Be eligible for a Pell Grant
- Be a full time student
- Have completed a rigorous secondary school program after January 1, 2006 if you are a first year student and after January 1, 2005 if you are a second year student
- If you are a first year student, you may not have been previously enrolled in an undergraduate program
- If you are a second year student, you must have a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
SMART Grant recipients must:
- Be a U.S. Citizen
- Be eligible for a Pell Grant
- Be a full time student in your third or fourth year of a four year program
- Be majoring in physical, life or computer science, engineering, mathematics, technology or a critical foreign language and
- Have a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
The actual grants are as follows: For ACG a maximum of $750 for freshman and $1,300 for sophomores, and for SMART a maximum of $4,000 per year for juniors and seniors.
In order to receive a SMART Grant, you must be enrolled in one of the following curriculum's:
SMART Grant Major Codes
|
Curriculum Code
|
Major
|
|
26.0101
|
Biology
|
|
11.0701
|
Computer Science
|
|
27.0101
|
Mathematics
|
|
30.0801
|
Math - Technology Option
|
Because many states do not yet offer formally recognized rigorous programs of study, and to ensure that private school students, home-schooled students and students enrolled in Department of Defense overseas schools are eligible, the Secretary of Education will immediately recognize four options for eligibility. They are:
- Advanced or Honors diploma programs. The Secretary of Education will recognize all Advanced or Honors diplomas conferred by the states as rigorous programs of study. According to research by the Department, nineteen states currently offer such diplomas upon completion of recognized coursework.
- State Scholars Initiative requirements. This program, supported by Congress, sets course requirements modeled after the National Commission on Excellence in Education recommendations. Fourteen states participate in this program, and eight additional states will begin participation this year.
- Course requirements similar to the State Scholars Initiative. This program of study includes four years of English, three years of math, three years of science, three years of social studies, and one year of a foreign language.
- Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and scores. Students who have taken two AP or IB courses and received passing scores on the exams for those courses will be considered eligible.
These guidelines will define rigorous secondary school programs of study for academic years 2006-07 and 2007-08 while long-term coursework guidelines are established. States that wish to identify alternative rigorous programs of study for 2006-07 have the option of submitting proposals to the Department by June 1, 2006. To identify alternative programs for 2007-08, the deadline is November 1, 2006.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Department of Education at 1-800-4-FED-AID.