McNair Eligibility

Eligibility

To be eligible to become a McNair Scholar, you must:   

  • Be a continuing junior or senior at the University of Arizona. The McNair Program is for undergraduate students who are at least one year away from graduation.
  • Intend to pursue a Ph.D. after graduation (professional degrees such as medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, or law are not eligible).
  • Have a 3.0 minimum cumulative GPA.

  • Be a member of a group that is underrepresented in graduate education (ie. Hispanic, African American, Native American, Pacific Islander, or document why your group is underrepresented on the McNair Statement of Eligibility). 

  • OR

  • Be first-generation-college and low income:
    1. First-generation-college: having parents or guardians who
    have not earned a baccalaureate degree.
    2. Low-income: please see the Federal TRIO Programs
    Annual Low Income Levels below.

Federal TRIO Programs
Current-Year Low-Income Levels
 

(Effective January 26, 2012 until further notice)

Size of Family Unit

48 Contiguous States,
D.C., and Outlying Jurisdictions

Alaska

Hawaii

1

$16,755

$20,955

$19,290

2

$22,695

$28,380

$26,115

3

$28,635

$35,805

$32,940

4

$34,575

$43,230

$39,765

5

$40,515

$50,655

$46,590

6

$46,455

$58,080

$53,415

7

$52,395

$65,505

$60,240

8

$58,335

$72,930

$67,065

For family units with more than eight members, add the following amount for each additional family member: $5,940 for the 48 contiguous states, the District of Columbia and outlying jurisdictions; $7,425 for Alaska; and $6,825 for Hawaii.

The term "low-income individual" means an individual whose family's taxable income for the preceding year did not exceed 150 percent of the poverty level amount.

The figures shown under family income represent amounts equal to 150 percent of the family income levels established by the Census Bureau for determining poverty status. The poverty guidelines were published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Federal Register, Vol. 77, No. 17, January 26, 2012, pp. 4034-4035.