Academic Competitiveness Grant

An Academic Competitiveness Grant will provide up to $750 for the first year of undergraduate study and up to $1,300 for the second year of undergraduate study to full-time students who are U.S. citizens, are eligible for a Federal Pell Grant, and have successfully completed a rigorous high school program as determined by the state or local education agency and recognized by the Secretary of Education. Second-year students must also have maintained a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0.

The program 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 Academic Competitiveness Grant award is in addition to the student's Pell Grant award.

If you can answer YES to all of the following questions, you may potentially be eligible to receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant.

Are you a U.S. citizen?
Did you graduate from high school after January 1, 2005?
Are you eligible to receive a Pell Grant?
Will you be enrolled as a full-time first-year or second-year student in a two-year or four-year degree program?

If you could not answer YES to all of the above questions, you do not qualify to receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant. However, you may still qualify to receive other types of federal student financial aid. If you have not completed a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), please go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and apply today.

If you answered YES to all of the above questions, you meet the initial requirements for the grant. Please choose one of the options below.

If You Have Already Filed a FAFSA		If You Have Not Yet Filed a FAFSA

If you have already completed a FAFSA application, you will need to go back to www.fafsa.ed.gov, and look under STEP 3. Choose the option: "Make Corrections to a Processed FAFSA." We will ask you a few more questions that will determine whether you meet the standards of rigorous secondary coursework as a requirement to receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant award.		If you have not completed a FAFSA application, you will need to go back to www.fafsa.ed.gov, and look under STEP 2. Choose the option: "Fill out a FAFSA." Part of the FAFSA process will determine whether you meet the standards of rigorous secondary course work as a requirement to receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant award.