As used in this part:

Academic year means all or part of a 9-month period during which an applicant is enrolled in an undergraduate school as a full-time student.

Acceptable level of academic standing means the level at which a full-time student retains eligibility to continue in attendance under the school's standards and practices.

Act means the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

Applicant means an individual who applies to and meets the eligibility criteria for the UGSP.

Application means forms that have been completed in such manner, and containing such agreements, assurances, and information, as determined to be necessary by the Director.

Approved graduate training means graduate programs leading to a doctoral-level degree (e.g., Ph.D., M.D., D.O., D.D.S., D.V.M., M.D./Ph.D., and equivalent degrees) in a profession needed by the National Institutes of Health.

Director means the Director of the National Institutes of Health or his/her designee.

Full-time student means an individual registered for a sufficient number of credit hours to be classified as full-time, as defined by the school attended.

Individual from Disadvantaged Background means:

(1) An individual who—

(i) Comes from an environment that inhibited (but did not prevent) him or her from obtaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to enroll in an undergraduate institution; or

(ii) Comes from a family with an annual income below established low-income thresholds.

(2) These low-income thresholds are based on family size, published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, adjusted annually for changes in the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' health professions programs. The Secretary periodically publishes these income levels in the Federal Register.

Scholarship Program means the National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program Regarding Professions Needed by National Research Institutes authorized by section 487D of the Act (42 U.S.C. 288-4).

Scholarship Program participant or participant means an individual whose application to the Scholarship Program has been approved and whose contract has been signed by the Director.

Scholarship Program Review Committee means the committee that reviews, ranks, and accepts or declines applications for Program participation. This committee also ascertains whether a participant will be awarded continued scholarship support after his or her initial acceptance.

School means a 4-year college or university that:

(1) Is accredited by an agency recognized by the Commission on Recognition of Post-Secondary Accreditation; and

(2) Is located in a State.

State means one of the several U.S. States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Palau, Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia.