Grants

Grants are considered "gift aid" and therefore do not need to be repaid. They are intended to assist students who have not yet earned or met the requirements for a first bachelor's degree (with the exception of the TEACH Grant) and who are attending school at least part time.

A Federal Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid. Pell Grants are awarded usually only to undergraduate students who have not earned a bachelor's or a professional degree. (In some cases, however, a student enrolled in a post-baccalaureate teacher certification program might receive a Pell Grant.) Pell Grants are considered a foundation of federal financial aid, to which aid from other federal and nonfederal sources might be added.

• Award determined by need.
• Full Year Maximum is $5,550 for full time enrollment (12 credits).

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) are for undergraduates with exceptional financial need. Pell Grant recipients with the lowest EFCs will be the first to get FSEOGs. Just like Pell Grants, FSEOGs don't have to be paid back.

• be a Texas resident
• be an undergraduate student starting enrollment at PVAMU in fall 2010 or later
• submit all required verification documents by the verification deadline.
• meet all PVAMU admission requirements
• meet eligibility requirements for a Federal Pell Grant
• enroll and complete a minimum of 15 semester credit hours (SCH) per semester
• maintain satisfactory academic progress
• have a family income of $60,000 or less. In some cases, family size will increase this amount
• student must be degree seeking

• have a family adjusted gross income of $60,000 or less
• must have a complete financial aid file by the University's priority deadline, March 15th
• maintain Federal Pell Grant eligibility
• maintain a minimum of 2.50 GPA in all semesters of eligibility
• enroll in a minimum of 15 semester credit hours per eligible semester Students that choose to enroll in greater than 15 hours will be expected to pay the difference in the amount owed
• have completed a minimum of 15 semester credit hours in the previous eligible semester (Transfer Renewals) or 30 semester credit hours in the preceding academic year
• maintain satisfactory academic progress
• eligibility is for a period of eight (8) consecutive semesters at the undergraduate level only (the Panther Promise is not available during the summer terms)
• if the student meets all of the criteria, hardship situations may be considered on an individual basis. Hardship situations include a showing of severe illness or other debilitating condition that may affect the person's academic performance or that the person is responsible for the care of a sick, injured, needy person and that the person's provision of care may affect the person's academic performance to receive the Panther Promise Award: (1) while enrolled in a number of semester credit hours less than the number required for eligibility; (2) if the student's grade point average or the student's completion rate or number of semester credit hours completed, as applicable, falls below the satisfactory academic progress requirements for initial or continuing eligibility, or (3) if the student fails to enroll in consecutive semesters

IMPORTANT REMINDER

• Students must reapply for financial aid and scholarships each year.
• Funds awarded for the Panther Promise will only cover up to the calculated financial need and may be reduced if the student receives private scholarships or other privately funded resources.
• In accordance with NCAA Bylaws, current and prospective student-athletes will be awarded on an individual basis. In some cases, certain forms of financial assistance may not be accepted or awarded.

Students who apply for financial aid after March 15 and meet the aforementioned conditions, will be awarded grant assistance on the basis of available funds. Students may be eligible for additional funds through loans and the Federal Work-Study program to cover additional educational expenses such as textbooks, lab fees, as well as, room and board.

Students who do not meet the economic qualifications for the Panther Promise may instead qualify for other grant and scholarship programs at Prairie View A&M University that are based on academic performance. Please review our Scholarship web page, http://www.pvamu.edu/scholarships, for more details about these funding opportunities.

Through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, Congress created the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program that provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to students who intend to teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families. If, after reading all of the information on this fact sheet, you are interested in learning more about the TEACH Grant Program, you should contact the financial aid office at the college where you will be enrolled starting with the 2012-2013 school year.

Effective Dates
TEACH Grants will be awarded to eligible students for the 2012-2013 school year.

Conditions
In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, you must agree to serve as a full-time teacher in a high-need field in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves low-income students (see below for more information on high-need fields and schools serving low-income students). As a recipient of a TEACH Grant, you must teach for at least four academic years within eight calendar years of completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH Grant. IMPORTANT: If you fail to complete this service obligation, all amounts of the TEACH Grants that you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. You must then repay this loan to the U.S. Department of Education. You will be charged interest from the date the grant(s) was disbursed.

Student Eligibility Requirements
To receive a TEACH Grant you must:

1. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), although you do not have to demonstrate financial need.
2. Be a U.S. Citizen or eligible non-citizen.
3. Be enrolled as an undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate student in a postsecondary educational institution that has chosen to participate in the TEACH Grant Program.
4. Be enrolled in coursework that is necessary to begin a career in teaching or plan to complete such coursework. Such coursework may include subject area courses (e.g., math courses for a student who intends to be a math teacher).
5. Meet certain academic achievement requirements (generally, scoring above the 75th percentile on a college admissions test or maintaining a cumulative GPA of at least 3.25).
6. Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (see below for more information on the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve).

High-Need Field
High-need fields are the specific subject areas identified below:

1. Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition.
2. Foreign Language.
3. Mathematics.
4. Reading Specialist.
5. Science.
6. Special Education.
7. Other identified teacher shortage areas as of the time you begin teaching in that field. These are teacher subject shortage areas (not geographic areas) that are listed in the Department of Education's Annual Teacher Shortage Area Nationwide Listing at http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc.

Schools Serving Low-Income Students
Schools serving low-income students include any elementary or secondary school that is listed in the Department of Education's Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits at https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp.

TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve
Each year you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve that will be available electronically on a Department of Education Web site. The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve specifies the conditions under which the grant will be awarded, the teaching service requirements, and includes an acknowledgment by you that you understand that if you do not meet the teaching service requirements you must repay the grant as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan, with interest accrued from the date the grant funds were disbursed. Specifically, the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve will provide that –

• For each TEACH Grant-eligible program for which you received TEACH Grant funds, you must serve as a full-time teacher for a total of at least four academic years within eight calendar years after you completed or withdrew from the academic program for which you received the TEACH Grant.
• You must perform the teaching service as a highly-qualified teacher at a low-income school. The term highly-qualified teacher is defined in section 9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or in section 602(10) of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
• Your teaching service must be in a high-need field.
• You must comply with any other requirements that the Department of Education determines to be necessary.
• If you do not complete the required teaching service obligation, TEACH Grant funds you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan that you must repay, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.

Additional Guidance and Implementing Regulations The Department of Education will publish regulations to implement the TEACH Grant Program after providing an opportunity for public comment in accordance with legal requirements.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

If you receive a TEACH Grant but do not complete the required teaching service, as explained above, you will be required to repay the grants as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, with interest charged from the date of each TEACH Grant disbursement.

The TEXAS Grant is a state grant program available to Texas residents who graduated from a Texas high school no earlier than fall 1998.  Recipients must have also completed the recommended or advanced high school curriculum or its equivalent. Need must be established by filing the FAFSA.

TPEG is for undergraduates with exceptional financial need. Pell Grant recipients with the lowest EFCs will be the first to get the Texas Public Education Grant. Just like Pell Grants and FSEOG, TPEG does not have to be paid back.