Academic Competitiveness and National SMART Grant Programs: 2006-07 and 2007-08
Author: Choy, Susan P.
Date: 2010-09-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Federal Aid,Higher Education,Student Financial Aid,Federal Legislation,Educational Legislation,Economically Disadvantaged,Student Participation,Federal Programs,STEM Education,Academic Achievement,Competition,Human Capital,Academic Persistence,Politics of Education,Merit Scholarships,Grants,Eligibility,Advanced Courses,Secondary Education,Graduation Requirements,Stakeholders,Educational Indicators,College Preparation,Majors (Students)

The Department of Education is vitally interested in whether the financial incentives provided by the grants affect student behavior. That is, will the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACGs) induce more economically disadvantaged high school students to complete a rigorous high school program and enroll and succeed in postsecondary education? Will the National SMART Grants motivate more students to major and receive degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and critical languages? It is still too early to answer these questions definitively. Students currently in their final years of high school may not have had enough time to take all the required courses and prerequisites, and students already in college may be well-established in other majors and not have the foundation needed to select one of the qualifying majors even if they wanted to. However, using data for the first two years of the programs, academic years 2006-07 and 2007-08, this report addresses a number of questions about indicators of intermediate progress toward achieving the long-term goals of the ACG and National SMART Grant programs. The following are key study questions: (1) How have the legislation, regulations, and implementation of the programs changed?; (2) What percentage of students who met the Pell Grant requirement for ACG and National SMART Grant eligibility also received an ACG or a National SMART Grant, and is this percentage increasing over time?; (3) What percentages of students who obtained 2006-07 ACGs and National SMART Grants were eligible for and received renewed awards the following year?; (4) What evidence is there that students were aware of the ACGs and National SMART Grants and knew what the requirements were?; (5) Is there any evidence to suggest that students who received ACGs or National SMART Grants were more likely to persist in college than students who received Pell Grants only? The first report of this study, "Academic Competitiveness and National SMART Grant Programs: First-Year Lessons Learned" (U.S. Department of Education 2009), addressed questions about the numbers and characteristics of students participating in the Pell Grant, ACG, and National SMART Grant programs in 2006-07 (using the COD-CPS Interface Grant Recipient File maintained by the office of Federal Student Aid). It also analyzed historical data and used information gathered from stakeholders in focus groups and through published sources (public comments on proposed regulations, publications, and websites) to describe implementation concerns and legislative and regulatory actions taken to address the concerns. This report updates the first report. It compares student participation in the Pell Grant, ACG, and National SMART Grant programs in 2007-08 with 2006-07. The report also presents information on renewal rates--that is, how many students ho received an ACG or National SMART Grant in 2006-07 received another one in 2007-08. Finally, it includes an analysis of data on program awareness collected through the student interview administered as part of the 2007-08 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:08). Appended are: (1) National SMART Grant-Eligible Majors; (2) Recognized Rigorous High School Programs; (3) Data Sources; (4) Supplemental Tables on ACG and National SMART Grant Program Participation by Type of Institution: 2007-08; (5) Supplemental Tables on ACG and National SMART Grant Program Participation by State: 2007-08; (6) Change in STEM Majors From 2003-04 to 2007-08; (7) Program Participation, Department of Education Goals, and Estimates of Eligibility; and (8) History of the ACG and National SMART Grant Programs. (Contains 33 figures, 34 tables and 35 footnotes.)