Publication Date: June 18, 2010
| DCL ID: | GEN-10-12 |
Subject: National SMART Grant Program - List of Eligible Majors for Award Year 2010-2011
Summary: This letter provides the list of academic majors eligible for the National SMART Grant Program for the 2010-2011 award year.
Dear Colleague:
The final regulations for the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) Program, published on October 29, 2007, provided a mechanism for institutions of higher education to request that additional majors be designated as eligible majors for which otherwise eligible students could receive a National SMART Grant. Additionally, final regulations published on November 23, 2009 provide a process by which an institution may request designation of a qualifying liberal arts curriculum as a National SMART Grant-eligible major.
Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) GEN-10-04, published April 2, 2010, invited institutions of higher education to submit requests for additional majors to be designated as eligible majors for the National SMART Grant Program for the 2010-2011 award year. In response to DCL GEN-10-04, institutions submitted five (5) requests for additional eligible majors.
Under §401A(c)(3)(C)(i) of the Higher Education Act (HEA), an otherwise eligible student must pursue a major in the physical, life, or computer sciences, mathematics, technology, or engineering or a critical foreign language to be eligible for a National SMART Grant. Section 103(3) of the HEA defines critical foreign language to mean each of the languages contained in the list of critical languages designated by the Secretary in the Federal Register on August 2, 1985 (50 FR 31412; promulgated under the authority of section 212(d) of the Education for Economic Security Act (repealed by section 2303 of the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988)). None of the five of the requested additional majors fulfill the statutory requirements.
The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) 2000 has been updated to the CIP 2010 edition corresponding with the 2010-2011 award year. CIP 2010 includes many new CIP codes within the National SMART Grant-eligible fields. The Secretary has determined that 67 of the new CIP 2010 codes meet the requirements to be designated as an eligible major for the National SMART Grant Program. These 67 CIP 2010 codes have been added to the list of National SMART Grant-eligible majors for the 2010-2011 award year.
The complete list of eligible majors for award year 2010-2011 is provided as an attachment to this letter. Institutions participating in the National SMART Grant Program are strongly encouraged to review the list of eligible majors for the 2010-2011 award year because some CIP 2000 codes have been deleted, redesignated, or moved in the CIP 2010. Consequently, an institution may need to make corresponding updates to the institution’s list of National SMART-Grant eligible majors.
Thank you once again for all your support and assistance in awarding National SMART Grants to eligible students. If you have any questions regarding eligible majors, please contact Sophia McArdle at 202-219-7078 or by e-mail at sophia.mcardle@ed.gov.
Sincerely,
Daniel T. Madzelan
Delegated the Authority to Perform
the Functions and Duties of the
Assistant Secretary for
Postsecondary Education