College Funding Grants

To:Superintendents, Principals, Guidance Counselors, and Teachers
From:David P. Driscoll, Commissioner of Education
Date:September 2006
In spring 2006, President George Bush signed into law two new grant programs for students' college expenses. These programs have the potential to make a college education a reality for low-income students and to strengthen mathematics, science, engineering, and foreign language instruction in schools and colleges in Massachusetts. The grant programs are:
  1. The Academic Competitiveness (AC) grants, and
  2. National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) grants
These grants are intended to encourage students to: (a) take more challenging high school courses; and, (b) to pursue college majors that are in high demand in the global economy (specifically, mathematics, science, technology, engineering, and critical foreign languages such as Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Tajik, Portuguese, and other languages). The Academic Competitiveness (AC) Grant requires that a college student must:
  1. submit the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) and have been determined to be eligible for a Federal Pell Grant
  2. be a United States citizen
  3. be enrolled as a full-time freshman or a sophomore in a two (or four year) degree program
  4. complete a rigorous high school program of study (requirements are described on the following page)
  5. complete high school on or after January 1, 2006, if a first-year college student
  6. complete high school on or after, January 1, 2005, if a second-year college student.
AC Grants provide up to $750 in funds for eligible first-year AC students and up to $1,300 for eligible second-year students. These funds are in addition to the Pell Grant funds. Tuition is also waived for AC and SMART students with a Koplik Certificate or Adams Scholarship who attend a Massachusetts state college or university. The National SMART Grant is for third- and fourth-year students. The available funds increase up to $4,000 each year for students whose college major is in high demand in the global economy (see second paragraph). The $4,000 in SMART Grant funds is in addition to the Pell Grant monies. The new AC & SMART grants took effect July 1, 2006. Please inform your School Committee, your students and their parents of these new grant opportunities. I urge middle and high school counselors to advise students to plan their course sequences so that they will be eligible for these grants. There is now another reason for taking demanding academic courses and successfully completing the requirements for the Stanley Koplik Certificate of Mastery. You can find additional information about these grants at www.federalstudentaid.ed.gov.

Massachusetts - AC Grant Academic Options

Current options for Academic Competitiveness grants for a Pell-eligible student from Massachusetts are that the student has completed:
  • The Massachusetts Koplik Certificate of Mastery
    OR
  • Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Admissions Criteria.
    • Three credits of math (Algebra I and II and Geometry or Trigonometry, or comparable coursework);
    • Three credits of science (including 2 lab sciences);
    • Two credits of social studies (including 1 course in U.S. History); and
    • Two years of foreign language (2 years in the same language).

    OR
  • Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and test scores. This program requires a minimum of two Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses in high school and a minimum passing score on the exams for those classes. Students must score 3 or higher on AP exams and 4 or higher on IB exams.OR
  • The State Scholars Initiative requirements. This program, currently offered in Massachusetts and twenty-one other States and patterned after the recommendations of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, requires at least:
    • Four years of English;
    • Three years of math (including Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry);
    • Three years of lab science (biology, chemistry, physics);
    • Three-and-one-half years of social studies; and
    • Two years of a language other than English.

    OR
  • A set of courses similar to the State Scholars Initiative. This program of study requires passing grades in the following:
    • Four years of English;
    • Three years of Math (including Algebra I and a higher level course such as Algebra II, Geometry, or Data Analysis and Statistics);
    • Three years of science (including at least two courses from biology, chemistry or physics);
    • Three years of social studies; and
    • One year of a foreign language.




Last Updated: September 18, 2006



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