Congratulations–you got a grant! Now is it a one-time grant, or is it renewable? And if it’s renewable, what do you have to do to receive the next round of funding?

Each allotment of grant money has its own set of conditions. One of these addresses what happens when the funding period has elapsed. One of the possibilities is that it may be one-time funding, and that you aren’t eligible to reapply in future funding cycles. Or it may be that you can reapply and compete against everyone else the next time the funding is offered. Another possibility is that your funding is eligible for renewal if you can show that you have used the grant money wisely. A less common situation would be that the funding is automatically renewed–funders or renewable grants ordinarily like to maintain some oversight over their grant money to safeguard against misuse.

Government college grants are one of these most common cases where there can be conditional renewal of funding. Academic funding may be awarded each year throughout the student’s time at the college of university and automatically renewed, subject to the student’s continued, satisfactory academic progress and just generally staying out of trouble.

A typical example of funding that would be a one-time deal is a housing grant in the form of down payment assistance for a first time home buyer. Usually, you can collect this just one time, then you’re not eligible for it again, even if you relocate to a different country.

A good example of a grant that would have to be renewed each funding cycle would be the government grants small businesses get for training. Typically, they’d have to show positive results to justify the continuation of the funding.

These are important considerations when you’re ready to apply for a government grant and also after you’ve received it, so you can best manage and plan your funding.