Information For Students About National SMART Grants:
The National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grants were created by the Higher Education Reconciliation Act of 2005 and signed into law February of 2006. In addition to the Pell Grant, Up to $4,000 ($8000 total) will be awarded to eligible National SMART Grant students for each year in addition to the Pell Grant funds. NOTE: The rules regulating these grants are currently being revised by Congress for 2008-09 and again for 2009-2010.
For National SMART Grants, students must:
apply for financial aid by submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and have been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant. Students who have not yet submitted a FAFSA may do so online at www.fafsa.ed.gov;
- be a U.S. Citizen;
- be enrolled in a four-year degree program; and
- be enrolled fulltime (12 credits or more). Students who drop below 12 credits before the end of the third week of the semester will have to immediately repay the grant.
In addition, SMART recipients must:
- be a Junior (60-89 credits ) or a Senior (90-119 credits) excluding AP, concurrent enrollment, and testing credits;
- be pursuing a major in mathematics, science (including physical, life, and computer sciences), technology, engineering, or a critical foreign language, such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Russian; and
- have a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0.
- A list of nationally eligible majors is available.
- make reasonable progress towards a degree in the eligible major.
- be enrolled in at least one course that meets the specific requirements of the student's SMART Grant-eligible major. It is not necessary that the course be offered by the academic department that confers the degree in the eligible major. For example, a student majoring in biology is eligible to receive a SMART Grant during a semester in which he or she is enrolled in a physics course if the physics course is required for the major even if the student is not enrolled in any biology courses.
Warning: A student who is taking general education courses or electives that satisfy general degree requirements for the student's SMART Grant-eligible program, but who is not taking at least one course specific to and required for the SMART Grant-eligible major, is not eligible for a SMART Grant payment for that payment period.
For example, the biology student described above may be taking courses during a semester in the humanities, the arts, and physical education in order to fulfill the general education requirements of the degree program or major. However, to be eligible for a SMART Grant the student must also be enrolled in at least one course required for the student's SMART Grant major. If the student were enrolled only in courses that satisfy the general education requirements of the SMART Grant-eligible program, but not in any courses that are specific to the major, he or she would not be eligible for a SMART Grant payment for the semester.
For more information, go to www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov.