Document Actions

Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)

Type of Award

Federal Grant

Application Form

Completion of FAFSA

Residency and Citizenship

Original Guidelines: U.S. citizens only. Eligible non-citizens ineligible for ACG.
New Guidelines as of 7/2009: U.S. citizens and Eligible non-citizens may receive ACG.

Award Amounts

An eligible student may receive an Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) of up to:

$750 for the first academic year of study
$1,300 for the second year of academic study

A student may not receive more than one ACG in each academic year for which the student is eligible.

The amount of the grant, in combination with the Federal Pell Grant, other resources and estimated financial assistance, may not exceed financial need (cost of attendance minus EFC).

Qualifying Programs and GPA

Must be a Federal Pell Grant recipient for the same period
Enrollment requirements
- Originally: Must be enrolled full-time in a degree program
- As of 7/2009: Be enrolled at least half-time in a degree program

Be enrolled in the first or second year of your program of study at a two-year or four-year degree-granting institution (such as CUNY)
Have completed a rigorous secondary school program of study after January 1, 2006 (if a first year-student) or
after January 1, 2005 (if a second-year student)

If a first-year student, not have been previously enrolled in an undergraduate program
If a second-year student, have at least a cumulative 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale for the first academic year
No enrollment in a specific major is required

Options for Program Eligibility

There are 3 options for eligibility for a student from New York State:

The New York Regents Diploma with Honors or Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation, 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 following prescribed set of courses and receiving a passing grade:

4 years of English.
3 years of Math (Algebra I and a higher level course such as Algebra II, Geometry or Data Analysis and Statistics).
3 years of science (Including at least 2 courses from Biology, Chemistry of Physics).
3 years of social studies.
1 year of foreign language.

Application and Self-Identification Process

FAFSA on the Web will predetermine if the student is eligible to answer the ACG questions.

If the student submitted a paper FAFSA and received a Student Aid Report (SAR) indicating that he/she may be eligible to answer the ACG questions, he/she must call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID.

Documenting Rigorous Programs

Institutions are responsible for determining the eligibility of students who the Department of Education reported as having self-identified eligibility.

Institutions are also able to identify eligible students based on records they have (e.g. high school transcripts).

Additional Information on ACG

The grant is not confirmed until eligibility is verified by the college.

GPA Requirement

The regulations require that the college check the student’s GPA only once. This must be done at the end of the semester in which the student receives his/her 24^th credit. Once the GPA is checked, it cannot be changed even if a grade is changed or an incomplete is given a grade. The regulations state that all students’ records are supposed to be checked at the same time and then not changed. So if a student has a 2.9 at the end of the semester in which he/she completes his/her credits, even if the GPA goes over 3.0 at the end of the next semester, any further ACG is forfeited.