Education Department Issues Criteria for “Rigorous” Curriculum
Students attending underachieving high schools
may be adversely affected
By Charles Dervarics
Students at minority-serving colleges and universities are among the primary targets of a new $4.5-billion financial aid windfall. But the program’s focus on merit-based aid — plus lingering concerns about implementation — may mean a bumpy ride ahead for students and colleges this year.
Congress last winter approved funding for the new Academic Competitiveness and SMART grants, which reward needy students with strong academic records. Competitiveness grants are open to freshmen and sophomores who received a “rigorous” curriculum while in high school, while SMART grants would go to juniors and seniors with a B average and a major in math, science, engineering or certain foreign languages.
While the target audience is low-income, Pell Grant-eligible students, critics say the legislation is vague, while the emphasis on merit criteria is a sea change from the federal government’s need-based financial aid system.
“This is the result of writing legislation in the wee hours of the night,” says Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the National Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
While federal merit-based aid is common at the graduate level, it is
unusual for the government to take this approach with undergraduates, contends Nassirian. And he adds that many low-income students may attend under-achieving high schools that do not offer a “rigorous” curriculum.
Lawmakers have endorsed this new funding even though the regular Pell Grant has been frozen at $4,050 for the past four years. Critics say the $4.5 billion could be used to raise the maximum Pell Grant.
“With Academic Competitiveness and SMART grants, we have two new tools to encourage students to take — and schools to offer — the right courses to prepare students to enter and thrive in college,” says U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
