As of July 1, 2011 the Academic Competitiveness Grant has been terminated and is no longer available as of the start of the 2011-2012 school year due to government budget cuts.1
While the U.S Government has made a series of provisions to use federal funds to provide financial aid to its citizens in many spheres like education and property, their methods are not infallible.
The federal government have created various grants, some of which have been successful and have been working for decades while others were introduced and terminated for a number of reasons.
One such grant was the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) that came to life in the year 2006 and unfortunately ceased to exist post July 2011, rumoured to be because of Government cuts. Read on more to find out what it entailed.
Decoding the Academic Competitiveness Grant
Introduced in the year 2006-2007, this grant was applicable for those students who graduated from their high school after the 1st of January 2006 along with college students in the second year (high school graduates as of 1st January 2005).
Its basic purpose was to provide financial assistance to eligible, deserving and needy students but with a focus on those students who made the effort to pursue rigorous study programmes.
What this means is that this grant encourages students to partake in high school courses that are challenging so that they are well prepared enough and mentally up to taking on equally challenging college courses.
Under this grant, you could get up to $750 for the first year of education, followed by $1,300 for the following academic year. Note: The amount of the ACG, when combined with a Pell Grant, may not exceed the student’s cost of attendance.
ACG Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for ACG, you must
- be a citizen of the United States or an eligible non-citizen
- be a Federal Pell Grant recipient
- At the time of applying, be enrolled in a degree program (even part-time would qualify) at least half-time in a degree program;
- If not the above, then a first or second-year undergraduate student or a student in a certificate program of at least one year in a degree program at a two-year or four-year degree-granting institution
- It is essential that you complete a thorough secondary school program of study (Post January 2006 and if you are a second year student, then its post 1st January 2005)
- If you are a first-year student — not have been previously enrolled in an ACG-eligible program while at or below age of compulsory school attendance
- If you are second-year student then your average grade point average should be at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, as calculated at the end the first year of undergraduate study.
For detailed information about the Academic Competitiveness Grant, please visit this link online: http://studentaid.ed.gov/.
References- Source: Academic Competitiveness Grant [↩]