Eligibility Criteria

Eligibiliy Criteria for the PSU McNair Scholars Program

You must be low-income and first-generation, or a member of an under-represented group, and you are at least a rising junior with a 3.0 or better GPA who is enrolled in a degree program at PSU. You must also be a US citizen or a US national or a permanent resident.

Low-income Individual

The term “low-income individual” means an individual from a family whose taxable income for the preceding year did not exceed 150 percent of an amount equal to the poverty level determined by using criteria of poverty established by the Bureau of the Census.

Under-represented

The US Department of Education considers students who are African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander as underrepresented in higher education.

First-generation student

The term “first generation college student” means— (A) an individual both of whose parents did not complete a baccalaureate degree; or (B) in the case of any individual who regularly resided with and received support from only one parent, an individual whose only such parent did not complete a baccalaureate degree.