National SMART Grant

The National Smart Grant is well known as National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant. National Smart program was established by The Higher Education Reconciliation Act as a main program to meet the growing need for math and science instruction. SMART Grants are available during the third and fourth year of undergraduate study only. The purpose of this program was to support students majoring in physics, mathematics, technology, engineering, life, computer science, critical foreign language, or non major single liberal arts program. National SMART grants are only available as the supplement to the Pell Grant. One must receive the Pell Grant first, before being able to receive money from the SMART Grant.

Maximum award in this grant is $4000 in academic years: three and four. Applicants must meet Pell Grant eligibility requirements in addition to a high GPA score of at least a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Who is Eligible?
Education Grants were designed mostly for undergraduate students, but graduate students may receive these grants in some cases. In order to be eligible students must be enrolled or accepted for enrollment before they apply. Weather grants are awarded or not will depend on your FAFSA application result. Very often the school will make the decision if you qualify for certain state or school based college grants. Sometimes schools are not able to decide automatically. In this scenario you may be required to apply to grant administrator in order to be considered for a particular grant.

When you fill out your FAFSA forms, the information from that application is used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution, or EFC. This EFC report determines whether the student is eligible for a Pell Grants or not. EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. This EFC is the number that is used to determine your eligibility for federal financial aid. This number results from the financial information you provided in your FAFSA application. Your EFC is reported to you on your Student Aid Report (SAR).

Where to Apply:

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/ac-smart.html