Since 2006, the ACG Grant (Academic Competitiveness Grant) and the SMART Grant (National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant), have been available to Pell eligible students who meet certain additional criteria.
As these new federal grant programs begin to unfold, continued guidance from the Department of Education have clarified certain requirements for eligibility. ACG students must be Pell eligible per the FAFSA application and have completed a 'rigorous secondary school program". This requirement has been defined in recent weeks to include three different options. The criteria can be met by 1) Completing a Secretary of Education's Recognized Program, 2) Passing 2 AP courses with an AP test score of at least 3, or 2 IB courses with an IB test score of 4 or better, 3) complete a set of courses identified by the Secretary of Education as a rigorous program. ACG recipients must achieve and maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better to continue to receive the grant in future terms. SMART grant eligible students should be aware of the following interpretation of the federal regulations. Effective immediately, SMART grant recipients must be taking at least one course that meets the specific requirements of their eligible major. Basic and breadth classes that are required of all undergraduates as part of their general education courses do not meet this requirement. Appropriate academic planning should be sought out by all SMART grant eligible students since this $4000 grant goes a long way toward meeting your educational costs. Losing this grant by not being aware of the latest federal guidance could cause a disruption in your academic plans. Please don't let this happen! Go to www.studentaid.ed.gov for a detailed discussion on the ACG/SMART grant regulations.
The EFC, or Expected Family Contribution, is the cornerstone of the financial aid awarding process. For federal aid eligibility, your EFC will be determined from your FAFSA application.
If you are not aware of the questions that affect your EFC, you may inadvertently make an error on your FAFSA that could have a serious impact on you child's award package. Briefly, both the parent's and student's income and assets impact the EFC. Careful attention to these questions is vital. Two other questions that have a major affect on the EFC are the family size and number in college questions. A family with two children in college will have half the parent contribution of the same family with one child in college. The EFC calculation, which is the result of Congressional action, is a complicated number cruncher that takes into consideration the custodial family's size, provides an income protection for basic living expenses, looks at the amount of liquid savings available from the student and parent, (hint: students' savings have a dollar for dollar greater impact on the EFC than do parents'), and requests a disclosure of business and investment income. What is not looked at is the financial strength of the non-custodial parent, home equity, accounts protected for retirement and small business value (business' of less than 100 employees). Now that the federal EFC is calculated, your financial aid office will determine your or your students' need. Another formula, this one much simpler, is now applied. Cost of attendance minus your EFC equals your federally calculated need. What if, you ask, your EFC is greater than your cost of attendance? In this case, you will be considered a “no-need” student and will be eligible for non-need based aid only.
In case this is not confusing enough, some institutions, mainly four-year privates, use a separate EFC calculation, usually know as "Institutional methodology." The most commonly used application by institutions is provided by College Board and is called the CSS profile. Unlike the FAFSA, the CSS profile has a cost associated with the application. While institutions use your Federal EFC from the FAFSA to calculate your federal aid eligibility for federal loans, grants and work-study, they apply their own EFC to calculate how much institutional funds you are eligible for. Institutions with sizeable endowments are allowed to use their own methodology to determine what type of students they wish to recruit and retain with their own funds. But Federal aid eligibility must always be determined by federal methodology and this should be disclosed to you on your award letter. What you should know about institution's methodology is that their applications can and usually do ask more probing financial questions than the FAFSA application. Non-custodial parents and their spouses must disclose their income and assets. Home equity from both parents (if applicable) is also used in the calculation. Fortunately the CSS profile and similar applications ask you to disclose your expenses rather than relying upon an income protection allowance used in the Federal calculation. Therefore, you have the opportunity to disclose higher than average expenses your family may have. Subsequent posts will discuss how to approach your financial aid office if your family has experienced financial circumstances or hardships that are not reflected in your FAFSA and CSS profile.
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Each fall represents the unofficial beginning of the scholarship hunting season. From this October through the end of Spring 2008, students seeking private scholarships for the 2008-09 school year should be in hunting mode.
Most scholarships being posted now are awarded for the 2008-09 academic year. Since there are countless scholarship opportunities out there, the idea of searching through the masses of scholarship search sites and matching services can seem daunting. But armed with a few strategies, you can maximize your time and effort. First off,find a few scholarship search engines that you are comfortable with. Make sure they are legitimate. They should not be requiring any payment, banking information or asking you to commit any type of deception. Once you have found your favorite sites, bookmark them for easy reference. Enter your data as requested, making sure to include every activity, organizational membership, or community service you have been involved with. Ask your parents and friends if your list looks complete. Chances are mom will remember something that you've long forgotten. It is very easy to overlook some participation or commitment you made years ago. You'll likely be asked to provide an essay related to a specific topic. The idea of writing dozens of essays for the possibility of a scholarship award may seem like a waste of your vital time and effort. But if you gather your potential scholarship applications together, review the specifics of what the essays are supposed to address, you may find that one or two well crafted essays can be used for multiple applications. This is not only acceptable, it is good common sense. Be sure to organize your applications by deadline. Earliest deadlines first, etc. Make a checklist for each application on a scrap of paper or sticky note for the front of the application. Mark off each item as you complete it. If you have down-time between applications, proofread your essays, address envelopes, follow up with potiential donors to see if your application has been received. One general piece of advice is 'don't give the scholarship search committee any reason to reject your application." Having sat on these types of committees, I know from experience that the applications that are missing information, came in after a deadline, have spelling or grammatical errors, or otherwise don't meet the minimum expectations of the donor, will be discarded with minimal consideration. Lastly, be sure to warmly thank your donors with a hand written note once you have been awarded a scholarship. Scholarship donors don't often come into contact with the students they've choosen to assist. It is good form to thank them and it will be greatly appreciated.
It has been a long standing tradition in the military community to support a veteran's longing for higher education. The Montgomery GI Bill that sent many a World War II veteran through school at little to no cost is still alive and well, but bears only a slight resemblance to its former self.
These days, with a plethora of federal, state and institutional funds available to veterans through the FAFSA and other applications, veterans can get the sense that money abounds for their college costs. And while this may be true for veterans more than any other group of students, it can also be misleading. The Veteran's Administration manages several different educational benefits programs. They include the well known Montgomery GI Bill, or Chapter 30 program. The REAP program was enacted in 2005 to support reservists who have been called to active duty in their pursuit of higher education. The 1606 program mirrors the Chapter 30 program but is specifically for selective reservists. There are also a couple of educational benefits for disabled veterans and their dependents; Chapter 31 and 35, respectively. Whatever program a veteran opts to use and is eligible for must be coordinated with the college's veteran's office and the office of financial aid. Veteran's benefits are considered a resource and will be used to meet your cost of attendance in the awarding and packaging process. It is likely that if you have other need based aid, it will be reduced or canceled once your VA benefits are awarded. The only exception to this is if you are Pell Grant eligible. Pell students are entitled to their scheduled Pell grant irrespective of VA benefits. The best way to avoid an unexpected change in your award package is to make a timely and full disclosure of your expected VA benefits to your financial aid office. A counselor who specializes in veteran's awarding will be invaluable to you as a resource. Find this person or people at your institution and become comfortable asking questions of them. For details on how your VA benefits will affect your award, visit your Financial Aid office. For information on your VA benefits and the difference between programs,
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