Answers to
Frequently Asked Questions
Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students (SDS)
Program
Updated 06/07/2004

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. General Questions

2. Disadvantaged Definitions

3. School Eligibility

4. Awards to Schools

5. Students Eligibility

6. Other

1. General Questions:

A) Do you have a website that links to the Campus Based Branch (CBB) of the Division of Health Careers Diversity and Development (DHCDD), program information?

Yes. http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/dsa/weblinks

Following are the examples of links from this site: Program Applications (SDS), Award Notices, Program Reporting (AOR/FSR, DMR), Student Financial Aid Guidelines (SFAG), Program Information including Policy Memoranda, Prom notes, low income levels, etc.

B) What is the SDS program?

The SDS is a program to provide financial assistance to disadvantaged health professions and nursing students.

C) Who can receive SDS Funds?

SDS funds are provided to eligible health professions and nursing schools that apply to the Department for funding each year and meet the eligibility criteria. To be eligible, a school must have a program of recruiting and retaining students from disadvantaged backgrounds and meet the Department’s outcome measures. Schools are responsible for selecting recipients and providing scholarships to full-time, financially needy students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Schools are also responsible for making a reasonable determination of a student's need. There is no service obligation for SDS scholarship recipients.

D) Where can I get further information regarding the SDS Program?

It is important that interested schools learn about the SDS Program information in the Student Financial Aid Guidelines (SFAG). Please note that the SFAG has been updated. Select "Health Professions Program" or "Nursing Programs," whichever is appropriate, then select "Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students."

E) How do I apply for the SDS Program?

Regardless of whether your school/program has received SDS funds previously, every school/program must apply for funds each year via the Internet. We notify schools of the application availability via the DSA Listserv. The listserv includes each school’s contact person and others interested in receiving information about the SDS program. If you are not a contact person and wish to be notified of the availability of the website and other pertinent information, e-mail to cmorehouse@hrsa.gov and request to be added to the DSA Listserv. Please include your school name, your name, phone number, fax number and e-mail address.

The application will be available early November each year and the deadline will be mid December. The website is http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/dsa/weblinks Click on "Program Application" and select "SDS Application".

A Checklist for the SDS Application is available to assist schools in collecting data necessary for the application.  Go to: http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/dsa/weblinks  Click on "Program Application" and select "SDS Checklist".

F) Who should I contact if I have additional questions concerning the SDS program?

You may write to dpolicy@hrsa.gov Please include your phone number.

Any questions concerning the scholarship program will be promptly responded to by a member of the CBB scholarship team.

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2. Disadvantaged Definition:

A) What is the definition of disadvantaged?

An individual from a disadvantaged background is defined as someone who:

(a) comes from an environment that has inhibited the individual from obtaining the knowledge, skill, and abilities required to enroll in and graduate from a school (environmentally disadvantaged);
 
or
 
(b) comes from a family with an annual income below a level which is based on low-income thresholds according to family size published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) for adaptation to this program (economically disadvantaged).

B) What are some examples of environmentally disadvantaged?

The Department expects that eligible students who meet these criteria will

(1) Have the abilities needed to succeed in a health career, but come from backgrounds and educational environments that have made it difficult for them to reach and fully demonstrate their academic potential; and
(2) Are more likely than other students to provide care to underserved areas and populations following completion of their degree.

EXAMPLES - schools are not limited to these examples only:

(1) The individual graduated from (or last attended) a high school with low SAT score based on most recent data available:
(2) The individual graduated from (or last attended) a high school from which, based on most recent data available:
     (a)low percentage of seniors receive a high school diploma; or
     (b)low percentage of graduates go to college during the first year after graduation.
(3) The individual graduated from (or last attended) a high school with low per capita funding.
(4) The individual graduated from (or last attended) a high school at which, based on most recent data available, many of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.
(5) The individual comes from a family that receives public assistance (e.g., Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps, Medicaid, public housing).
(6) The individual comes from a family that lives in an area that is designated under section 332 of the Act as a health professional shortage area.

C) What is meant by the "family" mentioned in the above Question #1 (b) "economically disadvantaged"?

"Family" refers only to parent’s income and parent’s size of family. It does NOT refer to the student’s income and student’s family size, regardless of whether a student is independent or dependent. 

New Low-Income Level is included in the checklist and the Application.

D) What income levels do I use to determine economically disadvantaged students for Awarding SDS?

Use the table below to determine which low-income levels to use when awarding SDS funds to students.

E) What low income levels do I use to determine economically disadvantaged students for annual SDS Application?

Use the table below to determine which low-income levels to use when applying for SDS funding.

F) What do I do for collecting parental income if a student's parents are deceased?

With documentation (e.g., death certificate, obituary, third party statement) that parents are deceased, students can be identified as being economically disadvantaged for the SDS Application, however, for the awarding process, schools must taken in consideration students' other financial resources to calculate financial need.

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3. School Eligibility:

A) How do I determine if my school is eligible to receive SDS funding?

Your school/program must have a program of recruiting and retaining disadvantaged students and meet the SDS eligibility criteria described below.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds must comprise a set percentage that changes periodically as determined by the Department. In addition, in order to receive SDS funding, a school must have economically disadvantaged students enrolled and graduated in the year specified in the SDS application.

B) If we do not have economically disadvantaged students enrolled/graduated, are we eligible to receive SDS funding?

No. In order to be eligible to receive SDS funding, you must meet the eligibility criteria referenced above AND you must have students who are economically disadvantaged enrolled and graduated from your program.

C) What does the Department mean when it refers to funding priorities?

When the Department awards SDS funds to schools, more money will be given to eligible schools based on the proportion of graduated students going into primary care, the proportion of underrepresented minority students; and the proportion of graduated students going into medically underserved communities.

D) If our program does not have any graduates working in the medically underserved communities during the reporting period in which you are requesting information, are we eligible to receive funds?

Your school is eligible to receive SDS funds as long as your school/program meets the eligibility criteria, and has economically disadvantaged students enrolled and graduated. However, your school will not receive the funding priority for medically underserved communities.

E) If our program does not have any graduates working in primary care during the reporting period in which you are requesting information, are we eligible to receive funds?

Your school is eligible to receive SDS funds, as long as your school/program meets the eligibility criteria and has economically disadvantaged students enrolled and graduated. However, your school will not receive the funding priority for primary care. The primary care disciplines are limited to allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, graduate nursing, and physician assistant.

F) Our school does not collect information on students’ ethnicity. Can we apply for SDS funding? If we apply, will it affect our SDS award amount?

Your school can apply for the SDS program. Your school's award amount may be affected, since you will not receive the funding priority for underrepresented minority students, even if your underrepresented minority enrollment is greater than the national average for the discipline.

G) Our school is newly established and does not have any graduating students. Are we eligible to apply?

Yes. If your program has students enrolled for the reporting year for the Application, you may apply. Since newly established schools have not yet graduated students, and do not have graduate data, schools may complete the "graduates" data on the application using the data on the class year of expected first graduating class in place of the graduate data. For example, if your program is a 4-year program and you have students enrolled only in the first 2 years, you must use the second year data in providing the "graduates" information. In other words, the data for the second year and the data for the "graduates" will be the same.

H) Is the eligibility criteria going to change for a school in the future?

Yes. The future outcome measure levels for determining school or program eligibility may continue to increase until the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) goal of assuring access to health care for all Americans and eliminating health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities is achieved. You will be informed of any changes in the SDS eligibility criteria via the DSA Listserv.

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4. Awards:

A) What is the Department’s methodology for determining SDS award amounts to schools?

Awards to eligible schools/programs will be calculated based on the number of students identified as disadvantaged under only economically disadvantaged enrolled and graduated. In addition, schools meeting the funding priorities receive additional money, depending on the number of priorities met.

B) May we still award students who meet the environmentally disadvantaged definition even though our award amount will be based only on the number of economically disadvantaged students?

Yes. Although school awards will be based on the number of economically disadvantaged students, schools may award scholarships to students who meet either the "environmentally disadvantaged" or "economically disadvantaged" definition.

C) Will the Department perform verification (on-site visit review) of the Application data submitted by schools? If the data is determined to be inaccurate, will we be penalized? If so, how?

Yes. The Department will select schools from the following criteria:

a) schools/programs with high percentage of economically disadvantaged students reported;
b) schools/programs receiving high award amounts; and/or c) schools/programs that appear to have inconsistent data on the SDS application.

If the Department finds the number of economically disadvantaged reported to be inaccurate during the site visits, the SDS awards for the current year will be adjusted based on the revised number of economically disadvantaged students.

D) How do funding priorities (proportion of underrepresented minority students, proportion of graduates working in medically underserved communities, proportion of graduates working in primary care) affect the HHS's calculation in awarding SDS funds to schools?

Schools meeting the funding priorities receive additional money depending on the number of priorities met.

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5. Students Eligibility:

A) Are minority students automatically considered eligible to receive SDS?

No. As long as a student is determined to be from a disadvantaged background and has financial need, a minority student may receive SDS; however, minority status in itself is not a factor for determining "disadvantaged."

B) Can a part-time student qualify to receive the SDS award?

No. Only full-time students are eligible. The full-time status depends on each program or school's determination of "full-time," as set forth in written school policy documents.

C) Is there any service obligation that SDS recipients must fulfill?

No. The SDS is an obligation-free scholarship.

D) We have non-resident (foreign) students who are disadvantaged and in great financial need. Are they eligible to receive the scholarship?

No. A student must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident.

E) When determining if a student is from an economically disadvantaged background, do we still use a student's parents' income?

Yes. Regardless of a student’s marital status, age or independent/dependent status, a school must use a student's parental income when determining disadvantaged status based on the economically disadvantaged definition.

F) We have a 37-year old independent medical student; do we need to collect the parental income information?

Yes. Regardless of age, independent/dependent or marital status, Title VII programs require parental income information for calculating the amount of a student’s financial need.

G) We have a 37-year old independent nursing student from an environmentally disadvantaged background; do we need to collect parental income information?

No. However, the use of parental income information is necessary to determine if the student comes from an economically disadvantaged background. It is not used to calculate financial need of an independent nursing student. If the independent nursing student is determined to be from an environmentally disadvantaged background, the parent income is not required.

H) Will you clarify when the parental income information must be used?

Yes. See Tables below.

    Step 1 - Identifying "Disadvantaged Students"

    Step 2 – Awarding Disadvantaged Students (Perform Financial Need Analysis to Determine ELIGIBILITY of Disadvantaged Students)

I) I have an independent student whose income meets the low-income thresholds but the parents' income exceeds the low-income thresholds. Can this student be considered to come from an economically disadvantaged background?

No. Parental income information must be used to determine a student from an economically disadvantaged background.

J) Do I add the student's income to the parent's income when determining economically disadvantaged students?

No.  Only parental income information is used to determine a student from an economically disadvantaged background.

K) What are the steps in determining eligible students to award SDS scholarships?

    Step 1 - Identifying Disadvantaged Students:

Identify students who are disadvantaged based on the Part 1 (environmentally disadvantaged) and Part 2 (economically disadvantaged), outlined under the "Disadvantaged Definition."

    Step 2 - Awarding Disadvantaged Students:

For Health Professions Students:

For independent/dependent students, to determine the financial need of the identified environmentally or economically disadvantaged students, you must take into consideration parental income.

Nursing Students:

For dependent nursing students, to determine the financial need of the identified disadvantaged students, you must take into consideration parental income.

For independent nursing students, to determine the financial need of the identified disadvantaged students, it is not required to use parental income information. (This is an exception.)

Note: In order to receive SDS scholarships, students must have financial need. Some students may be disadvantaged but may not have any financial need. For example, a student may be from an economically disadvantaged background, which is based on parents' income; however, that student may be married to an individual with great financial resources. The scholarship is awarded only to disadvantaged students with financial need. The scholarship amount must not exceed the financial need of a student.

L) Do we give preference in awarding SDS scholarships to eligible disadvantaged students with severe financial hardship?

Yes. In the awarding of SDS funds, schools/programs must give preference to eligible disadvantaged students for whom the cost of attending an SDS school or program would constitute a severe financial hardship. It is the school’s responsibility to establish criteria for determining which students qualify for this preference.

M) Do we give preference in awarding SDS scholarships to students who have participated in the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) and/or Nursing Workforce Diversity (NWD) Program?

Yes. Schools/programs must give preference, in the awarding of SDS funds, to eligible disadvantaged students who have participated in an academic enrichment program funded in whole or in part by the HCOP, or by the NWD Program (formerly Nursing Educational Opportunities Program (NEOP)).

N) How does a school know if a student participated in the HCOP or NWD programs?

A school may add a question on an application form asking whether the student ever participated in one of these programs.

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6. Other:

A) I am not the contact person for our school, but I would like to receive all correspondence via the e-mail concerning the SDS program from your office. What do I do?

Please e-mail cmorehouse@hrsa.gov and request to be added to the DSA Listserv. Please include your name, school name, your phone number, fax number and e-mail address; and write on the subject line of an e-mail "Subscribe."

B) I am the contact person for our school; however, I did not receive any e-mails concerning your programs. How can I be sure I receive all your e-mail correspondence?

Many things could have happened, e.g., your e-mail address changed, or another person is registered as the contact person. You can check our website at http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/dsa/weblinks and select "School Contact Person" to see if you are listed and all information including the e-mail address is correct.

If you need to make changes to the contact person information, please go to the above website and click "School Contact Person" and select "Update Contact Person Information".

C) How can I be assured that our SDS application has been properly submitted via the Internet and has been received by the Department?

The contact person and authorizing official will receive an e-mail confirmation within 24 hours that the SDS application has been successfully transmitted. Make sure you keep a copy of the e-mail confirmation for your records.

D) What if I do not get confirmation within 24 hours after submitting the SDS application?

Immediately send an e-mail to dpolicy@hrsa.gov to inform us. Please include your school name and OPSID#.

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