Scholarship Criteria – Class of 2009

Who is eligible to apply for the District of Columbia Achievers Program Scholarships?
To be eligible to apply for an Achievers Scholarship, a student must meet the following criteria:

• You are a junior at one of the 6 Achievers High Schools and will graduate from that high school in spring 2008 (students may only apply once for the Achievers Scholarship and should be approximately a year and a half away from high school graduation at the time of application).
• You are actively working to prepare yourself academically for admission to a University, demonstrating your academic potential through your commitment to your classroom work and assignments.
• You plan to obtain a bachelor's degree.
• You plan to attend an eligible public or independent college or university.  
• Your family has and will continue to have an annual income level that is in the lowest third of the District of Columbia family income levels and has low or modest family assets. Factors that support this eligibility include the parental income level and family assets that follow.

Parental Income Level: Your parents' total annual income level has EITHER:

1. Been consistently below the income level shown for your family size and is not expected to substantially increase

*If your family will support one or more siblings in college at the same time the applicant will be in college, add one to the family size number before determining if your family income level qualifies. [For example, a family of four that will have another child in college at the same time the applicant will be in college should use the income level for a family size of five.]

OR

2. Your family's income level has recently decreased due to changed circumstances (e.g. death, divorce, illness etc.) and is expected to remain near this level during the entire duration of your college attendance

AND

Family Assets: Your own and parents' financial assets, including net business and farm assets, are less than $50,000. (The value of your family's principal home and their official retirement plan assets are not counted, however.)

Note: A student whose family does not meet these standards, but who believes that the family's overall financial circumstances should make them comparable to families with the lowest third of income and assets, may still apply for consideration if his or her family submits a detailed special circumstances letter.