FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL THERAPY
Scholarships
for Disadvantaged Students
DEADLINE: November 28, 2007
Purpose:
The SDS program is a federal grant program for schools of allied health
and nursing, which provides scholarships to students from disadvantaged
backgrounds, including racial and ethnic minorities, who are enrolled (or
accepted for enrollment) as full-time students.
The federal definition of “individuals from disadvantaged
backgrounds” is as follows:
(1)
Comes from an environment that has inhibited the individual from
obtaining the knowledge, skill, and abilities required to enroll in and
graduate from a health professions school, or nursing school (e.g. graduate of
Miami public high school with low FCAT scores, recent immigrant, raised in
single-parent household, parent incarcerated, orphan, first in family to
attend college, victim of abuse, physically disabled, learning disabled,
etc); or
(2) Comes from a family with an annual income below a level based on low-income thresholds according to family size published by the US Bureau of the Census, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for use in health professions and nursing programs. The following information is taken verbatim from the HRSA Notice of Award:
"Low Income: The Low-Income Level, based on 200 percent of the Departmental poverty guidelines, is used to determine what constitutes a low-income family for the purposes of the SDS programs for the Academic Year 2007-2008.
To determine if a student comes from an economically disadvantaged background, a school must use the student's parent's income (regardless of independent/dependent, age, or marital status).
Size of Parent's
Family: 1, Income Level: $20,420 Alaska:$25,540 Hawaii:$23,500
Size of Parent's Family: 2, Income Level: $27,380 Alaska:$34,240
Hawaii:$31,500
Size of Parent's Family: 3, Income Level: $34,340 Alaska:$42,940
Hawaii:$39,500
Size of Parent's Family: 4, Income Level: $41,300 Alaska:$51,640
Hawaii:$47,500
Size of Parent's Family: 5, Income Level: $48,260 Alaska:$60,340
Hawaii:$55,500
Size of Parent's Family: 6, Income Level: $55,220 Alaska:$69,040
Hawaii:$63,500
Size of Parent's Family: 7, Income Level: $62,180 Alaska:$77,740
Hawaii:$71,500
Size of Parent's Family: 8, Income Level: $69,140 Alaska:$86,440
Hawaii:$79,500
For each additional
person add: $6,960 Alaska:$8,700 Hawaii:$8,000
Note:
Size of Parent's Family means the number of exemptions listed on the
parent's Federal Income tax form. (e.g. family size of 4 might include two
parents and two dependents). Income Level is an adjusted gross income for
calendar year 2006."
Eligibility:
To be eligible for a scholarship from the SDS program at FIU, a student
must:
(1)
Be a citizen, US national, an alien lawfully admitted for permanent
residency in the US, or a citizen of the Northern Mariana Islands, a citizen
of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a citizen of the Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands, or a citizen of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the
Federated States of Micronesia; and
(2)
Meet the definition of an “individual from a disadvantaged
background” as defined above; and
(3)
Be enrolled as a full-time student and taking a full-course load of
graduate courses in the physical therapy program at FIU.
The law requires that in providing SDS scholarships, the program give preference to students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and for whom the cost of attending FIU would constitute a severe financial hardship. Severe financial hardship will be determined by the program in accordance with standard needs analysis procedures prescribed by the Department of Education for its Federal student aid programs.
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL THERAPY
Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students
I
N S T R U C T I O N S
1. From the Financial Aid Office, obtain the “Free Application for
Federal Student Aid” (FAFSA); complete this, and return it to Financial Aid.
2. If this is your first time applying in Academic Year 2007-2008, you MUST submit a copy of the FIRST PAGE of your parents’ 2006 income tax Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ with the SDS application. All applicants must submit this, regardless of age or marital status, even if you are no longer dependent on your parents for support. This is a Federal requirement. If you received an SDS award in the Fall of 2007, you DO NOT need to submit the income tax return again but you must submit the application.
3. Complete
the attached application and return it to the Department of Physical Therapy
by
5 pm on Wednesday November 28, 2007.
4. Your
application will be reviewed by the departmental Financial Aid Committee and
you will be notified of the committee’s decision in writing.
5. Your
award will be handled by the University’s Office of Financial Aid as part of
your total financial aid package.
For further information, contact Dr. Awilda Haskins, (305) 348-2265.