FINANCIAL AID » Academic Competitiveness Grant

How much can students receive?
An Academic Competitiveness Grant provides $750 for the first year of study and $1,300 for the second year.

Please note: The amount of the grant, when combined with a Pell Grant, may not exceed the student's cost of attendance. In addition, if the number of eligible students is large enough that payment of the full grant amount would exceed the program appropriation in any fiscal year, the amount of the grant to each eligible student may be reduced.

Requirements (beginning July 1, 2009)
To receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant, you must:
-- Be Pell Grant-eligible during the same award year.

-- Be enrolled at least half-time.*

-- Be a first-year or second-year undergraduate student in a degree program at a two-year or four-year degree-granting institution.

-- Have completed a rigorous secondary school program of study, and

• if a first-year student—have completed secondary school after Jan. 1, 2006; not have been enrolled in ACG-eligible program while at or below the age of compulsory school attendance
• if a second-year student—have completed secondary school after Jan. 1, 2005, and have at least a 3.0 grade point average as of the end of the first year of undergraduate study.

For qualifying for an ACG, any one of the following programs meets the "rigorous secondary school program of study" requirement:

1. Rigorous secondary school programs designated by state education agencies (SEAs) and state-authorized local education agencies (LEAs) and recognized by the Secretary of Education.
2. Advanced or honors secondary school programs established by states.
3. 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.
4. A program for a student who completes at least two courses in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program with a score of four or higher on the course examinations or at least two Advanced Placement (AP) courses with a score of three or higher on the College Board's exams for those courses.
5. 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; and
   • One year of a language other than English.
     

To learn more, email admissions@bbc.edu or call 800.451.7664.