ACADEMIC COMPETITIVNESS GRANT (ACG)
To be eligible for an Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), students must receive a Pell grant for the same award year and be U.S. citizens (noncitizens are not eligible). Additionally, eligible students must:
Student Eligibility
- Be enrolled full time in an associate's, bachelor's, or graduate (if it includes at least three academic years of undergraduate education) degree program or in a two-academic-year program acceptable for full credit toward a bachelor's degree;
- Be enrolled in the first or second academic year of their program of study at a two-year or four-year degree-granting institution;
- Have successfully completed a rigorous secondary school program of study and graduated (after January 1, 2006, for first-year students and after January 1, 2005, for second-year students); and
- If first-year students, not have been enrolled while still in high school as regular students in an ACG-eligible college program, or if second-year students, have successfully completed their first year and have a cumulative GPA* of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
- This is checked one time only, at the end of the first academic year. Subsequent changes to the student's GPA do not affect ACG eligibility for the second year.
Rigorous Program of Study
For the purposes of qualifying for an ACG, the following programs meet the "rigorous program of study" requirement:
- Advanced or honors programs established by states and in existence for the 2004-05 or 2005-06 school year*
- Secondary school programs identified by a state-level partnership recognized by the State Scholars Initiative of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) of Boulder, Colorado
- A program for a student who completes: a) at least two courses in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program with a score of four or higher on the examinations for the courses, or b) who completes at least two Advanced Placement (AP) courses with a score of three or higher on the College Board's exams for those courses
- A secondary school program in which a student completes, at minimum:
- Four years of English
- Three years of math, including algebra I and a higher level class such as algebra II, geometry, or data analysis and statistics
- Three years of science, including one year each of at least two of the following courses: biology, chemistry, and physics
- Three years of social studies (if a high school or an admissions department categorizes the class as social studies, then it is also categorized as social studies for the purpose of ACG)
- One year of a language other than English (a computer language does not count)
*The Secretary has recognized all existing advanced or honors diplomas as rigorous secondary programs of study.
Award Amount
Unlike Pell Grants, which are based on a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Cost of Attendance (COA), ACG and National SMART Grant awards are set amounts.
For the ACG program, a first-year student receives $750 and a second-year student receives $1300. A school may reduce a student's set ACG or National SMART Grant award to prevent an overaward. ACG or National SMART Grant plus all other aid cannot exceed the student's need.
Awards in a given year may also be ratably reduced nationwide if there aren't sufficient funds for all eligible students in a given award year.
