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Publication Date: April 2007 DCL ID: GEN-07-02 Subject: 2007-2008 Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National SMART Grant Award Amounts and Approved Majors Summary: This letter announces the maximum award amounts for the Academic Competitiveness Grant and National SMART Grant programs for the 2007-2008 award year. It also informs institutions that the 2007-2008 list of National SMART Grant approved major CIP codes will be the same as the list used for the 2006-2007 award year. Posted on 04-27-2007 Dear Colleague:On behalf of the hundreds of thousands of needy students who will benefit from the ACG and National SMART Grant programs, I want to thank you for your efforts. Maximum Award Amounts Under the statutory provisions that established the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) programs, the Secretary is required to reduce the maximum award amounts for an award year if she determines that available funding will not support all students otherwise expected to qualify for the grants. Based upon an analysis of 2006-2007 expenditures, adjusted for expected changes for the 2007-2008 award year, the Secretary has determined that there is no need to reduce the maximum award amounts for the programs for 2007-2008. Therefore, the maximum award amounts for the 2007-2008 award year will be -
Institutions must
ensure that a student is not awarded more than the appropriate maximum
award (or Scheduled Award) during the student's academic year. For example,
a student who attended a partial academic year of only two quarters during
2006-07 and received two-thirds of a Year 1 ACG award totaling $500 would
only be eligible for the remaining one-third ($250) of the Year 1 ACG
award for attendance during 2007-08 until the student completes his or
her first academic year. However, if a similar student completed his or
her first academic year at the end of 2006-07 after only receiving two-thirds
of a Year 1 ACG Scheduled Award, that student would not be eligible for
the remaining ACG Year 1 award but could receive up to the full $1,300
Year 2 ACG Scheduled Award, for attendance during 2007-08, assuming the
student met all relevant ACG 2 eligibility requirements, including having
a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the
first academic year. We also want to remind institutions that a student may not be eligible for the full maximum award if the total of the student's expected family contribution (EFC) and other financial assistance, including other Title IV aid (Federal Pell Grant, campus-based aid, and FFEL or Direct Loans), exceeds the student's cost of attendance. National SMART Grant Majors The Secretary has determined that the 2007-2008 list of CIP codes for academic majors approved for the National SMART Grant Program will be the same as the list that has been used for the 2006-2007 award year. That listing, posted as an attachment to Dear Colleague Letter GEN-06-15, is also included as an attachment to this letter. ACG and National SMART Grant Negotiated Rulemaking As a reminder, we are currently in the process of proposing regulatory changes for the ACG and National SMART Grant programs for the 2008-2009 award year and for subsequent award years. This is being conducted through a negotiated rulemaking process, as required by law. Areas being discussed by the negotiated rulemaking team include -
Information about the ACG and National SMART Grant negotiated rulemaking process (as well as information about three other negotiated rulemaking processes) is available at http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2007/nr.html or through the IFAP website at http://www.ifap.ed.gov. Thank you for your continued support in the 2007-2008 award year and beyond in implementing the ACG and National SMART Grant programs. Sincerely,
Attachments/Enclosures: National
SMART Grant -- Fields of Study in PDF Format, 26KB, 13 pages
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