Issue Briefs

Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants

The Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program provides financial assistance to low-income undergraduate students with exceptional need to help them pay for college. Authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act (HEA), SEOG is one of the “campus-based aid programs,” meaning it is administered by each participating postsecondary education institution.

About

The Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program provides up to $4,000 in additional grant aid to low-income students. As one of the “campus-based aid” programs along with Federal Work-Study, institutions match federal dollars allocated to campuses and direct funding individually to students based on need. SEOG allows a financial aid administrator to ensure a low-income student has additional grant aid in their student aid packages to address their unique financial circumstances.

SEOG is also a mechanism for emergency student aid when unforeseen circumstances occur, such as a student’s parent unexpectedly losing a job or a student losing access to transportation to class. The flexibility provided by the campus-based aid programs allows a financial aid administrator to provide an emergency grant that can make the difference between a student dropping out or persisting to completion.

SEOG has been an integral part of the federal student aid portfolio since its inclusion in the HEA. SEOG was designed as a partner to the original Pell program (then known as the Basic Education Opportunity Grant or BEOG) to ensure supplemental grant aid was available for Pell Grant recipients and to ensure that institutions have “skin in the game” by providing matching dollars to the federal investment and by administering the program on campus.

Recent SEOG Proposals

SEOG has been a perennial target for elimination by presidential administrations and Congresses during the last two decades. Proposals to eliminate SEOG have come from appropriators who need to cut funding to meet target spending reductions or authorizers who want to streamline the student aid programs.

In arguing for these proposals, the program is often touted as being duplicative of the Pell Grant program. Because of the federal matching dollars provided by institutions across the country that participate in SEOG, eliminating the program would remove almost $1.5 billion in need-based aid from students. To date, the proposals to eliminate SEOG have failed.

  • Thank Congress for funding SEOG and share student success stories about the impact the program has on your campus.

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