Washington, D.C. --- The U.S. Department of Education today announced guidelines for current college students and high school seniors to apply for new Academic Competitiveness Grants and National SMART Grants for the 2006-07 academic year.
Students who completed rigorous coursework in high school or who are pursuing degrees in math, science and critical foreign languages are eligible for a portion of $790 million in new federal funding for higher education.
In creating these programs, Congress directed that students who completed rigorous programs of study in high school, as established by a state or local educational agency and recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, would be eligible for Academic Competitiveness Grants.
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.
This program, supported by Congress, sets course requirements modeled after the National Commission on Excellence in Education recommendations.
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.
Congress passed the Academic Competitiveness Grants and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants as part of the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005, signed by President Bush on February 8, 2006.
Congress established that first-year students may receive up to $750 and second-year students up to $1,300 in Academic Competitiveness Grants, if the student has successfully completed a rigorous secondary school program of study.
Second-year recipients must also have attained at least a 3.0 grade point average in their first year of study.
According to the statute, a rigorous secondary program of study is one that is established by a State or local educational agency and recognized as such by the Secretary.
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