The Department of Education announced that it plans to hold meetings around the country and establish a panel to discuss permanent guidelines for distributing new federal grants to help low-income students attend college.
Called the Academic Competitiveness Grants and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent, or SMART, grants, the programs offer extra aid to Pell Grant-eligible students who take a rigorous high school curriculum and plan to major in mathematics, science, or certain foreign languages.
The department plans to hold a series of meetings this fall to give the public a chance to comment on possible guidelines for the program. It will also appoint a panel of stakeholders, including students, governors, K-12 educators, and college-admissions officers, to recommend to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings how the grants should be distributed.
