Student Assistance General Provisions; Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program; Federal Pell Grant Program; Academic Competitiveness Grant Program and National Science and Mathematics Access To Retain Talent Grant Program

The Secretary amends the regulations for the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant (National SMART Grant) Programs. These interim final regulations are needed to implement provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA), as amended by the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008 (ECASLA) and the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HEOA). The new statutory provisions are effective July 1, 2009. The Secretary also amends the regulations in the Student Assistance General Provisions, and the regulations for the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant Program and the Federal Pell Grant Program to implement conforming changes based on the statutory amendments to the ACG and National SMART Grant programs.