Proposals will be evaluated by a committee, ranked, and selected based on the following criteria:

Significance of Project

• Timeliness of the topic, the magnitude of the issue, and the extent to which the research provides new information or strategies related to student affairs theory/practice.

Alignment with SACSA’s Mission

• Relevance of assessment, evaluation, or research to the SACSA region and/or SACSA’s membership. Alignment with at least one of SACSA’s core values: inclusiveness, professionalism, collegiality.

Quality of Scholarly Evidence

• Strength of the scholarly evidence used to support a need for the research and explain key concepts related to the research.

Quality of Assessment, Evaluation, or Research Design

• Strength of proposed data selection, collection, organization, and analysis strategies to answer the proposed research question(s). Appropriate use of quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods to conduct the inquiry.

Timeline & Resources

• Feasibility that the outlined timeline and resources will be sufficient to carry out the proposed research.

Overall Proposal Presentation

• Strength of writing technique (e.g., grammar, clarity, organization) and APA style citations/references.

Deadline and Submission

To apply for the AER grant awards, complete the form below by Monday, October 7th at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Award and Recipient Obligations

While grant recipients are not obligated to attend the upcoming conference, grant recipients will be honored at the conference awards ceremony and conferred the awarded funding at that time. Research grant awardee(s) will be required to submit a status report to SACSA one year after receiving the funding and are encouraged to submit a conference proposal for the following years SACSA conference.