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2024-2025 Accelerated College Opportunity Exam Fee Program Application

2024-2025 Accelerated College Opportunity Exam Fee Grant Program


 

Accelerated College Opportunity Exam Fee Grant Program

The Accelerated College Opportunity Exam Fee Grant Program helps more eligible students take Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) exams by providing funds to high schools to cover all or part of the exam fees. This allows students to earn college credit based on their exam scores.

Eligible Applicants

Applicants are eligible to apply for this opportunity on behalf of high schools serving eligible students.

“Applicant” means a public high school, either on its own behalf or through its authorizer or fiscal agent, which serves grades nine through twelve and has one or more students who plan to take an Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate exam. A school district, authorizer, or high school (as defined in section 2.06 of these rules) may act as an applicant.

“High school” means any public school that serves grades nine through twelve and has one or more students who plan to take an Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate exam.        

“Eligible student” means a student enrolled in a high school who is a low-income individual, as defined in 20 U.S.C. sec. 9832(3) and who is planning to take one or more Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams.
 

The amount given per exam will be decided each year based on factors like available funding, reduced exam prices, federal funding, and the number of exams to be covered.

For the 2024-25 school year, about $500,000 is available. Each eligible exam fee will be funded up to $53 (after deductions for the exam vendor’s fee and administrative costs). Funding will depend on the number of requests.

If there’s enough money to cover all requests, each applicant will receive full funding. If requests exceed the available funds, the money will be distributed proportionally.

The department may also award a larger grant for certain exams if necessary to cover the full exam fee, but any smaller grants must cover the full cost of the exam they apply to.

Duration of Grant

Grants will be provided for the 2024-25 school year, but future funding will depend on state legislative appropriations. Funded applicants are not guaranteed funding beyond 2024-25. Applicants can request funding for multiple exams per eligible student. Grant funds cannot be used to replace federal funds already available for AP and IB exam fees CDE takes seriously its obligation to protect the privacy of student Personally Identifiable Information (PII) collected, used, shared, and stored. PII will not be collected through the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Exam Fee Grant. All program evaluation data will be collected in the aggregate and will be used, shared, and stored in compliance with CDE’s privacy and security policies and procedures.

Please note: Documents submitted must not contain any personally identifiable student information including names, identification numbers, or anything that could identify an individual.
 
  • Please read the application carefully and submit all information required.  If you have questions, email Cassandra Cordova. Incomplete application will not be considered.  If you do not verify the amount by the deadline of May 27, 2025, you may not be eligible for funding. 
  • Applications are due by January 27, 2025 at 11:59PM. Due to the competitive nature of this grant,  Incomplete or late applications will be disqualified.
  • You will need to verify amounts by May 27, 2025. More information to come in Spring 2025.
 [KM1]This amount may change depending on appropriation.
1.

Part IB: Program Assurances Form                        

The appropriate Authorized Representatives must sign below to indicate their approval of the contents of the Accelerated College Opportunity Exam Fee Grant Program application, and the receipt of program funds.

I hereby agree to the following assurances:
  • Funds from this program will not supplant federal funding pledged or received for the payment of Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate exam fees. 
  • Funds will be used only for Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exam fees of eligible students as verified through the process outlined in Student Eligibility (below).
  • If the applicant is a high school that applies on its own, an assurance that its fiscal agent or authorizer has not applied for funding on its behalf for the same eligible students for which the high school is requesting funds.
  • By May 27th, applicants must verify in writing to the department the number of Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams administered to eligible students.


An applicant must verify and provide an assurance to the department that students for whom the applicant seeks a grant award for exam fees are eligible students. In verifying and providing the assurance, applicants must confirm that eligible students are between the ages of 5 through 19, and from a low-income family, based on the following eligibility criteria;
 
  • The student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunches under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751); or
  • The student or his or her family is eligible for assistance under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601); or
  • The student is eligible to receive medical assistance under the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396); or
  • The student qualifies as low-income based on data used by the federal Department of Education to determine basic grants to states under 20 U.S.C. 6333
*This question is required.
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2. If needed, upload signatures here. 
Verification must be submitted by May 27, 2025, before funds can be allocated. Please note that submitting this form does not guarantee funding.
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