UW SYSTEM GUIDELINES
Lawton Undergraduate Minority Retention Grant Program
The 1985-87 Biennial Budget established in 1986 an undergraduate minority grant program entitled the Lawton Undergraduate Minority Retention Grant Program (LUMRG). The legislative intent of the Lawton grant program is to provide financial assistance to statutorily designated (African-American, Hispanic, Native American and Southeast Asian of Vietnamese, Cambodian or Laotian descent who entered the United Sates after December 31, 1975) minority undergraduate students to improve their opportunities for retention and graduation and lessen the burden of student debt.
To encourage the development of a successful method for retaining minority students, flexibility is provided within the System guidelines to permit institutions to experiment in tailoring their award criteria to fit their unique populations. UW System Administration conducts an annual review of the program guidelines.
The guidelines for administering the program are:
• Responsibility for the program will be based on a joint partnership between the minority coordinator and the financial aid office. The institution shall convene a committee for the development of institutional award criteria and related guidelines for the program, or so charge an existing group, with that partnership in mind.
• Responsibility for promotion of the program and initial contact by interested students should be through the minority coordinator's office. The minority coordinator will certify to the financial aid office that the student is eligible to be considered for an award. The program will be administered through the financial aid office.
• Minority student status will be self-disclosed, however, eligibility for the program will be established based on criteria administered through the minority coordinator's office. (In addition to providing a means of certification of eligibility for consideration for the award, this provision may bring into the coordinator's office students who had not previously been in contact with it.)
• For this grant to be significant, it should be used to assist in meeting the entire amount of calculated need; however, the institutions shall have some flexibility to tailor the program, within guidelines, to the needs of their particular populations.
• The program will be need-based, need being calculated by the prevailing federal methodology, except that an institution may set aside up to 10 percent of its allocation to be awarded to minority students based on other need criteria developed by the institution. These criteria must be submitted in writing to the UW System Office of Academic Diversity and Development (OADD) ( 780 Regent Street, Suite 305 ; Madison , WI 53715 ) by February 1st of each year. Financial aid officers are strongly encouraged to be sensitive to the special needs of minority students and to carefully examine the student's available resources in developing a financial aid package.
• Eligibility for initial awards: Undergraduate statutorily designated minority students of at least sophomore standing, as defined by the institution, who enroll for at least six credits per term, and who are in good academic standing and making satisfactory academic progress are eligible. Institutions should attempt to have awards reasonably distributed among the three student classes.
• Eligibility for renewal awards: Undergraduate statutorily designated minority students who enroll in and complete at least six credits per term , and who are in good academic standing and making satisfactory academic progress are eligible. Institutions should establish procedures that move part-time enrolled grant recipients to full-time enrollment status as quickly as expediently possible. This should increase the student's probability of graduation and assist the University System in meeting the standards for minority retention and graduation.
• Awards will be given to Wisconsin residents and Minnesota reciprocity students, with preference given to Wisconsin students. Special students and students working toward a second undergraduate degree are not eligible.
• Appeal procedures for special circumstances should be established.
• LUMRG may not be used to replace any other grant for which the student is eligible. In the financial aid award process, an award sequence such as: Pell, WHEG/TIP, IG/BIA, SEOG, Institutional/Other, LUMRG, will be followed. Whenever possible and feasible, LUMRG will replace need-based loans. The inclusion of campus-based work aid in an award package should be carefully considered.
• Full-time students are eligible for grants up to $3,000 , for up to four years (preferably consecutive). Length of eligibility is pro-rated for less-than-full-time students.
• Funding will be allocated to the institutions based on their proportion of the three-year rolling average headcount enrollment of African American, Hispanic, Native American and statutorily designated Southeast Asian resident and Minnesota reciprocity sophomores, juniors and seniors enrolled for six credits or more in the UW System. For allocation purposes, a sophomore is defined as in the student CDR.
• Data for legislatively mandated reports for the Regents will be collected from the financial aid CDR.
• Institutions will report to the UW System Office of Academic Diversity and Development (OADD) (1660 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive , Madison , WI 53706 ) by February 1st of each year, the institutional award criteria and guidelines directing the granting of the coming year's awards.
