| Publication Date: March 4, 2007 DCL ID: CB-07-05 Subject: Use of State Scholarships and Grants as the Non-Federal of FSEOG Awards Posted on 04-04-2007 Dear Colleague: The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, provides that the Federal share of awards made to students under the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) Program may not exceed 75 percent. The 25 percent non-Federal share of FSEOG awards must come from an institution's own resources, including institutional scholarships and grants, tuition or fee waivers, State scholarships and grants, and foundation or other charitable organization funds. In response to inquiries concerning the use of State scholarships for FSEOG matching purposes, the Department has determined that all State scholarships and grants, except for Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) and Special Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (SLEAP) awards, are eligible funds that may be used to meet the non-Federal share requirement for the FSEOG Program. LEAP and SLEAP awards, for this purpose, are defined as the LEAP and SLEAP Federal allocations plus the minimum required State matching amounts. The balance of State grant amounts are considered non-LEAP and non-SLEAP awards and therefore can be used to meet the FSEOG non-Federal share requirement. We used the state grant agency reported expected expenditures for State scholarships and grants for the 2006-2007 award year, the 2006-2007 LEAP and SLEAP Federal allocation amounts, and the required matching information to compute the percentages of each State's scholarships and grants that may be used to provide the non-Federal share of total FSEOG awards for the 2006-2007 award year. A chart showing these percentages is attached. You can apply the appropriate State percentage to the State scholarships and grants your eligible FSEOG recipients received to determine the total amount of State scholarships and grants that may be used to meet the FSEOG non-Federal share requirement. For example, a student recipient of FSEOG receives a grant of $900 from the State of Virginia. The Virginia percentage of 97.22 multiplied by the grant amount of $900 equals $875, which is the portion of the grant that may be used to meet the non-Federal share requirement for a $3,500 FSEOG award ($2,625 is the Federal share of the FSEOG award). There are some circumstances when an institution may not use the percentages provided in the attached chart. If an institution has specific knowledge that a State scholarship or grant - irrespective of its name - is considered to be made up of all LEAP or SLEAP funds (Federal and required State matching), no part of that scholarship or grant may be used as the FSEOG non-Federal share. For additional information or if you have questions, please contact Greg Gerrans in Financial Partners at 202-377-3304 or the Campus-Based Call Center at 877-801-7168. We trust that this information will be useful in your administration of the FSEOG Program. Sincerely, Jeff Baker, Director Federal Student Aid U.S. Department of Education Attachment: |