Academic Competitiveness grant? (sophomore)?

Question

From what Ive found I meet everything except that I didnt have my 30 units when the spring sem ended but I now do with summer school which is considered still part of last school year. SO am I eligible for it because it doesnt show up on my financial aid summary.

Answer 1

Well - you didn't provide us with enough information to know for sure, but here's some things to consider:

1. To be eligible for an Academic Competitiveness Grant, you MUST be receiving a Pell Grant for the same academic period.

2. You must be enrolled full time.

3. You must have "successfully completed" your first year, and have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4-point scale.

4. Your high school coursework must qualify as something the government calls a "rigorous course of study" - there is a whole laundry list of courses involved - for example:

4 years of English

3 years of Math, including at least Algebra II, geometry or statistics

3 years of Science including  full years of at least two of physics, chemistry or biology

3 years of Social Studies

1 year of a language other than English (computer languages don't count, but American Sign Language does)

There's a rule that says that if your first year GPA was less than 3.0 that you can't qualify for a second year ACG by retroactively improving your GPA.

Finally (whew!) the Department of Education automatically determines if you seem to be qualified for an ACG when they are processing your FAFSA. Not every school will evaluate this independently, so you may need to contact your financial aid office directly and ask them to assess your eligibility. As always, that's what I would recommend.

Good luck to you! I hope this helped.