If you have been researching the various different types of grants available for students today, you will probably have come across the acronym ACG.  This stands for the Academic Competitiveness Grant.  While it is not one of the highest paying grants on offer, it can be combined with other grants to provide a top up to the amount of funding a particular student receives.

The program focuses on providing extra funding for the first two years of undergraduate study a student undertakes.  The maximum amount you can expect to receive to put towards your first year is currently $750.  This then goes up to $1,300 in the second year of study.

To be in line for receiving this particular grant, you will also need to be accepted to receive a Pell grant.  The ACG runs in conjunction with this, so if you don’t receive a Pell grant you will not be eligible to receive the Academic Competitiveness Grant either.

While this particular grant is only for a small amount of money (certainly when compared to various other grants on offer today) it can still provide a valuable top up for those students who are eligible to receive it.  There are lots of conditions to receiving it however, so you must be sure you meet all of them when you apply.  If you apply you will soon be told if you do not meet all of the criteria.

It is also worth noting that if you are allocated to receive a Pell grant and an ACG grant as well, you won’t be able to claim more than the amount that your studies actually cost.  So if you are eligible to receive $5,000 in total and your studies actually cost less than this, you will only receive the lesser amount.  It may also depend on how many students apply and are accepted for the Academic Competitiveness Grant each year.  If the allocated funds are used up, the amounts for all the students may be reduced in accordance with this.

You don’t need to be on a full time course to be eligible for this grant, but you should be in a half time course at the very least.  Anything less than this is not suitable for consideration.  The minimum length of study is also just one year, and programs which run for less time than this are automatically excluded.

Some of the conditions also refer to the need to have a minimum grade point average to be eligible for the ACG.  As you can see there are lots of conditions to meet if you want to be considered for this grant, but on the whole many students do qualify each year.

Even if you don’t qualify for this grant there are plenty of other alternatives out there to go for.  If you fill in the FAFSA form – the  Free Application for Federal Student Aid – you will find out which ones you are eligible for at all times.