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AwardYear: 1998-1999 EnterChapterNo: 8 EnterChapterTitle: Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program SectionNumber: 1 SectionTitle: Selecting Recipients PageNumbers: 3 hb8-5.pdf   GENERAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS ------------------------------------- To receive a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), a student must meet the applicable eligibility requirements listed in Chapter 2, Section 1, "Student Eligibility." In addition, an eligible recipient must be an undergraduate student and must have financial need. [[FSEOG undergraduate student definition--34 CFR 676.2]] An undergraduate student is defined under the FSEOG Program as a student who is enrolled in an undergraduate course of study at an institution of higher education and who - has not earned a bachelor's degree or first professional degree and - is in an undergraduate course of study that usually does not exceed four academic years or is enrolled in a four- to five- academic-year program designed to lead to a first degree.1 [[No FSEOG for additional undergraduate degree]] A student who has earned a bachelor's or first professional degree is not eligible to receive an FSEOG to pursue an additional undergraduate degree,2 based on the above definition of undergraduate student. A school must make FSEOG funds reasonably available (to the extent of available funds) to all eligible students. 1 A student enrolled in a program of any other length is considered an undergraduate student for only the first four academic years of that program. 2 Note that the definition of undergraduate student in the FSEOG regulations differs from the definition in the Federal Perkins Loan and FWS program regulations (see 34 CFR 674.2 and 675.2). The definition of undergraduate student in the Federal Perkins Loan and FWS program regulations does permit a person with a bachelor's or first professional degree to receive aid from those programs to pursue an additional undergraduate degree. PRIORITY ORDER FOR FSEOG AWARDS ------------------------------------ [[First selection group]] In determining the priority order in which students will be awarded FSEOG funds in any given award year, a school must first choose those students with exceptional financial need--that is, those with the lowest Expected Family Contributions (EFCs) who will also receive Federal Pell Grants in that award year. We will refer to this group of students as the "first selection group." [[Second selection group]] If the school has FSEOG funds remaining after awarding FSEOG funds to the entire first selection group, the school must next award FSEOG funds to those eligible students with the lowest EFCs who will not receive Federal Pell Grants in that award year. We will refer to this group of students as the "second selection group." FEDERAL PELL GRANT ELIGIBILITY ---------------------------------- A student who will also receive a Federal Pell Grant in that award year is a student who has demonstrated Pell Grant eligibility for the same award year based upon - a Student Aid Report (SAR) the student submits to the school, - electronic SAR information the school receives from the Central Processing System (CPS), or - a manual calculation. The school must keep the appropriate Pell Grant eligibility information on file. If the school determines a student's Pell Grant eligibility by one of the above methods and awards an FSEOG based on that determination but the FSEOG recipient does not actually receive a Pell Grant during the award year, the school relied on the demonstrated eligibility in good faith and, thus, is not required to recover the FSEOG funds. [[If payment period crosses July 1--Dear Colleague Letter CB 91-8, dated May 1991]] If a student is enrolled in a payment period that begins in one award year and ends in the next3 and if the student is among those students with the lowest EFCs who will also receive Pell Grants in that payment period, the student has met the first-selection- group requirements (for that payment period only) regardless of the award year to which his or her Pell Grant payment period is attributed. 3 The payment period begins before July 1 of any year and ends after July 1 of that same year. For example, Fred and Ethel are enrolled at Trumbull University in a program that begins in June 1998 and ends in August 1998, and both are among those students with the lowest EFCs who will also receive Pell Grants in that payment period. Even though Fred is receiving a 1997-98 Pell Grant disbursement for that payment period and Ethel is receiving a 1998-99 Pell Grant disbursement for that payment period, both students have met the first-selection-group requirements for that payment period. [[This file contains the graphic "Determining FSEOG First Selection Group" on page 8-5 in Portable Document Format (PDF). It can be viewed with version 3.0 or greater of the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.]] "Payment period" is defined as a semester, trimester, or quarter; for a school not using those academic periods, it is the period between the beginning and the midpoint or between the midpoint and the end of an academic year. LESS-THAN-FULL-TIME AND INDEPENDENT STUDENTS -------------------------------------------------- [[34 CFR 676.10(b)]] A school must offer at least 5% of its FSEOG allocation to less-than- full-time and independent students if the school's FSEOG Program allocation is directly or indirectly based in part on the financial need of these students and if the financial need of all such students exceeds 5% of the total financial need of all students at the school. Additional information is in Chapter 5, Section 1. Determination of whether a school must offer at least 5% of its 1998-99 allocation to these students is based on eligible aid applicant data filed for the 1996-97 award year. For subsequent award year allocations, determinations will be governed by data filed for the second preceding award year. This provision is not applicable for FSEOG if the school received an FSEOG allocation of $5,000 or less. A school cannot exclude less-than-half-time students from its definition of less-than-full-time students. MAKING FSEOGS AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR ------------------------------------------------- A school must develop written selection procedures to ensure that FSEOG recipients are selected on the basis of the lowest EFC and Pell Grant priority requirements over the entire award year in accordance with the selection provisions found in 34 CFR 676.10. For a school that enrolls students as often as monthly or weekly, FSEOG funds can be reserved for use throughout that award year (on the basis of institutional experiences from previous periods), and selection practices can be applied in a manner that would assure a reasonable consistency over the entire award year. ESTABLISHING CATEGORIES OF STUDENTS ---------------------------------------- The school is allowed to establish categories of students to be considered for FSEOG awards as a means of administering its packaging policies. Categories may be based on class standing, enrollment status, program, date of application, or a combination of factors. By establishing these categories, the school is attempting to ensure that the students in each category have an opportunity to be awarded FSEOG funds. The percentage or dollar amount of funds assigned to each category is also at the school's discretion; there is no requirement to make that amount proportional to the need of students in a particular category or even to the number of students in the category. [[Prohibition against excluding certain groups of students]] Categorization may not be used to exclude certain students or groups of students from consideration. If the school knows that its funds are so limited as to effectively exclude year after year categories that come later in the sequence, the school may not be in compliance with the "reasonably available" provision. This principle would not apply to a category made up of students whose applications are received after a specific deadline; there is no requirement to reserve funds for late applicants although the school is not precluded from doing so. [[Prohibition against EFC cutoffs or professional judgment]] A school would not be in compliance with the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended, and with the FSEOG regulations were it to award FSEOGs on a first-come, first-served basis or were it arbitrarily to set expected EFC benchmarks (cutoffs) from below which it would select FSEOG recipients. Such a practice might exclude otherwise eligible students from the selection process. Furthermore, professional judgment is not an appropriate means of attempting to resolve the indicated circumstance; professional judgment is applicable only to making an adjustment or adjustments to an expected EFC or to a cost of attendance amount, not as a means to circumvent the FSEOG selection policy.

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