<p>Even though it is an annual program, the funding still has to be appropriated by Congress. States are not willing to commit until they know the federal money is going to be there. Also the federal fiscal year begins in October, so it is not too surprising that final word doesn’t come until after the school year has already begun. </p>
<p>Which makes it awkward for students and families who would like to know for certain right around now, and not have to wait until fall.</p>
<p>Yes, the 2010 fiscal year starts in October 2009. Which means the 2009 funding was secured in October 2008. sooo… MN anyone? :D</p>
<p>Tigerbound09 stated earlier “i applied. my state you need at least a 3.5 GPA and a 23 on the ACT.”
I’m not sure what state he/she is from, but when I saw this, I thought that I would be a good candidate for this scholarship. Everything I read said that they looked at ACT and Class Rank. Well, I got a 32 on my ACT and am 1st in my class (4.0 GPA unweighted), so I called to see what the requirements for Illinois were. I was shocked to find out that the minimum ACT score needed was a 34.<br>
I understand that each state sets its own requirements, but isn’t that a little too much of a difference?!</p>
<p>Iheartthemusic29- I am from Louisiana. In Louisiana, the minimum ACT score and GPA was at least a 23 and a 3.5 to be nominated for the award. Now, I’m not sure if someone with those stats would receive the award, but each state does set its own requirements.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why the requirements for Illinois and Louisiana would be that different, but maybe Illinois has certain restrictions that LA doesn’t have. I don’t know we’ll just have to wait and see.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard anything in Alabama yet?</p>
<p>Well, when I called around the beginning of May, I was told that the recipients for Illinois would have been notified by the end of April. Obviously, I didn’t get it, because my ACT score didn’t meet the requirement, but has anybody from IL actually gotten notification yet?</p>
<p>As of April 28, Alabama still did not have the actual total funding amount from the Feds, so they had not yet sent out the notifications, even though they had made the selections in early April.</p>
<p>Has anyone in AL received notification yet?</p>
<p>According to the info I saw on the net, NC applicants were supposed to be notified by May 18th, and I have received nothing. Any NC folks heard anything?</p>
<p>My school nominated me for this award a month or so ago. I’m in CA; has anybody seen any info pertaining to that state?</p>
<p>CM57</p>
<p>Found this online regarding Florida:</p>
<p>• Award or denial notifications from other state scholarships and grants are sent in June for: Jos</p>
<p>^^^
School told D yesterday that she’s their nominee for Byrd. We’re in Florida, so I guess we wait 'til June to find out.</p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>I called the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction today and the woman who answered said that winners have not been announced for North Carolina because they have not received confirmation on funding. She did not know when the winners will be announced.</p>
<p>Thanks Sparrow!</p>
<p>Anyone know about New Jersey?</p>
<p>It was awarded rather weakly in Oregon. The organizers claim it “is designed to recognize exceptionally able high school seniors”, yet they awarded it to two kids who both had lower SAT scores (by a significant margin, over 150), took less AP classes and independent studies of AP tests than I did, one of who had worse grades than me (not a 4.0 at a grade inflated school) and were not National Merit Semifinalists, while I didn’t win it. It seems that these measures would be especially useful in assessing whether or not someone is “exceptionally able”. Its a complete joke, especially when considered with the mission statement of the program. I don’t need the money, but it would have been nice to have, and I thought that that scholarship was one of the few merit scholarships I would have a chance of winning. Its kind of a disappointment to see, to be honest.</p>
<p>My D was just notified that she’s eligible to apply for the Robert Byrd scholarship in Washington State. Next, they have to fill out the application and return it by June 5. No mention of funding issues.</p>
<p>Found out on Friday that I was selected, but the AL dept. of Ed. is not yet sure of the federal funding. So, they will not send out the official notices to the recipients yet.</p>
<p>It is very strange that some states have already made the recipient names public, but my state is not even sure the money is going to be made available? Weird.</p>
<p>Ohio’s Byrd Scholarship 2009-2010 recipients are available on the Ohio Department of Education website. It was about 400+ last year down to 108 or so this year. National Merit Finalist…4.0 GPA unweighted…Valedictorian…34 ACT…didn’t receive one so the criteria must be quite high. Good Luck!</p>
<p>a little bit upset about the ohio awards because they had the same amount of funding as last year according to the ODE website</p>
<p>In response to Swimguy’s correction of my earlier post re availability of federal money:
I checked with a fed who said that, in fact, this scholarship program IS forward funded, meaning Swimguy is absolutely correct. That is, it would appear there should be no question about the federal money being there.</p>
<p>So, the bobbing and weaving would seem to be happening on the state level. I would certainly want to hear an answer from an official person if my state continued to say the money wasn’t there.</p>