How To Apply For The SMART Grant

The SMART Grant, also known as the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (or the National SMART Grant) is available through the United States Department of Education. These grants are made available to students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant as well as those that are in their third or fourth year of an undergraduate degree program. This also applies to students who are in their fifth year of a five year program.

Students who qualify for SMART Grants are those who are majoring in mathematics, technology, engineering, science, a critical foreign language (that has been named critical to national security), or non-major single liberal arts programs of which the curriculum has been determined by the United States Secretary of Education.

Another criterion to be eligible for the SMART Grant is that you must maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 in all of the work you do in studying for your major. The SMART Grant is awarded to students in addition to what they receive when they qualify for a Pell Grant award.

Those students that qualify for the SMART Grant will receive $4,000 on an annual basis for their third, fourth, and to those it applies to, fifth years of studies at the undergraduate level. When the National SMART Grant and the Pell Grant are added together they are not permitted to equal a greater amount than it costs the student to attend school. This grant was created by the Federal Government to encourage more students to pursue degrees in areas that have been deemed high-demand.

How to Apply for the SMART Grant

If you would like to apply for the SMART Grant then you must complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Colleges will determine which students are eligible based upon their grade point averages, their eligibility for a Pell Grant and the program that they wish to study in college. Students will then be notified if their application has been approved for a National SMART Grant. Please be aware that you must have been accepted into an eligible program or a school within a university before you will be considered qualified to be approved for a National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant.

If you are approved for the grant then when it comes time to be distributed it will be sent directly to the college you attend by the U.S. Department of Education. Your college will then disburse the funds to you to pay all necessary educational expenses.

Who is Eligible for the SMART Grant?

In order to be eligible for the National SMART Grant you must be an American citizen or an eligible non-citizen. You must be eligible to receive a Pell Grant and you must be enrolled either full-time or half-time. You also must be in either your third, fourth or fifth year of a degree program. While in college you must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Your GPA will be checked before the beginning of each semester or payment period. It is also a requirement that you are pursuing a major in one of these areas- physical, life or computer sciences, math, engineering, technology, a critical foreign language (as defined by the Department of Education) or a non-major single liberal arts program.

If this grant is of interest to you and you would like to learn more about it then you can go online and visit http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/ to find out more information,. Another source for further information would be the financial aid office at the college or university where you are enrolled. Grants can help ease the financial burden of pursuing your higher education goals.