Most grants are awarded based on demonstrated financial need. Students who meet the priority deadline have greater access to the limited amount of grant funds available, since applications are processed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Federal Pell Grant

These federal Title IV grants are for candidates seeking their first bachelor's degree who have exceptional financial need. Grants may range from $400 to $4,731 per year.

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program (FSEOG)

This federal Title IV grant is for exceptionally needy students pursuing a first bachelor's degree. Bowie State University may offer up to $1,500* to an eligible applicant.

*Annual grant maximums are subject to change.

Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG)

This federal grant is for first-year students who graduated from high school after Jan. 1, 2006 and second-year students who graduated from high school after Jan. 1, 2005.

You may receive an ACG of up to $750 for your first academic year of study and up to $1,300 for your second academic year of study. To receive the ACG, you must have the following qualifications:

  • U.S. citizenship
  • Federal Pell Grant recipient
  • Completion of a rigorous high school program of study (for both first- and second-year students)
  • Full-time enrollment in a degree program
  • First year student (0-29 earned units) who has not taken any college courses after high school graduation
  • Second-year student (30-59 earned units), with a cumulative BSU GPA of at least 3.0 (if you are a second-year student with transfer units, you must have at least a 3.0 GPA for the units accepted for transfer)

If you are a new freshman, you must submit an official copy of your high school transcript to the Office of Financial Aid to determine your eligibility.

As with all other forms of aid, if at any time you are found not to meet all requirements, the grant will be withdrawn.

National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant

This federal grant is for students in the third and fourth year of a bachelor’s program who are pursuing college majors in high demand in the global economy. (Fifth year undergraduate students and second bachelor’s degree students are not eligible.) You may receive a SMART grant of up to $4,000 if you have the following qualifications:

  • U.S. citizenship
  • Federal Pell Grant recipient
  • Full-time enrollment in an undergraduate degree program
  • Cumulative BSU GPA of at least 3.0
  • Third-year (60-89 earned units) or fourth-year student (90-120 earned units)
  • Declared BSU major in science, mathematics, technology, engineering, or critical foreign language.

Receiving a SMART grant may result in a change to another part of your financial aid offer. Eligible students will be notified of their SMART grant eligibility.

For more information on the new SMART grant, please visit: http://studentaid.ed.gov/.

Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant

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. The first TEACH Grants will be awarded to eligible students for the 2008-2009 school year.

In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, students 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, a student must teach for at least four academic years within eight calendar years of completing the program of study for which they received a TEACH Grant.

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA),
  • Be a U.S. Citizen or eligible non-citizen,
  • Be enrolled as an undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate student in a post secondary educational institution,
  • 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),
  • 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),
  • Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (see below for more information on the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve).

We have determined that Bowie State University will not participate in the TEACH Grant program until 2009-2010 school year, students will be required to complete a seperate application. If we were to participate now and offer this to all teaching students, there is the potential for a large population of students to get hit with thousands of dollars in interest by not being able to meet the very stringent service requirements for the grant.  The Department of Education initially estimated that 80% of the grant recipients would have their grants convert to a loan in large part due to these stringent requirements.

Click here for TEACH Grant Application.

For more detailed information about the TEACH Grant Program click here 



Maryland State Grants

The state of Maryland offers a number of state scholarship programs that are based on merit or other criteria.

To review Maryland state scholarship criteria or for more information, please visit the Maryland Higher Education Commission website.