§ 352-A — Maritime college; admissions program

§ 352-a. Maritime college; admissions program. 1. There shall be\ncreated an admissions program for the state university of New York\nmaritime college as established pursuant to section three hundred\nfifty-two of this article in which certain elected officials shall\nnominate students for placement in such college's regimental/cadet\ndegree system.\n 2. (a) Maritime college shall have a total of two hundred eighty-four\nvacancy positions set aside for applicants who are nominated by the\ngovernor, a state senator or a member of the assembly. Such vacancy\nnominations shall increase or decrease based upon the number of senate\ndistricts authorized pursuant to article three of the New York state\nconstitution. An applicant who receives such a nomination, is accepted\nfor admission into the college and participates in the regimental\nprogram shall receive a scholarship equal to the amount of the state\ntuition charge after the deduction of any available grant aid for the\nfour consecutive years following his or her admission into the program\nprovided, however, that the student remains in the regimental/cadet\ndegree program and remains at all times in good academic standing as\ndetermined by the maritime college administration. In no event shall a\nstudent lose his or her scholarship based upon legislative\nreapportionment or changes in legislative composition or membership.\nNothing herein shall be construed to limit or reduce the number of\nvacancies available to the general population.\n (b) To be eligible to receive such nomination and scholarship, the\napplicant must be a resident of the state. For purposes of this section,\na state resident shall be defined as a person who has resided in the\nstate of New York for a period of at least one year prior to the time of\nnomination, is a graduate or within one year of graduation from an\napproved high school or has attained a New York state high school\nequivalency diploma or its equivalent as determined by the commissioner.\n 3. The vacancy nominations shall be distributed as follows: five for\nthe governor, five for the majority leader of the senate, five for the\nspeaker of the assembly, two for each state senator other than the\nmajority leader of the senate and one for each member of the assembly\nother than the speaker of the assembly. The governor and each member of\nthe legislature shall provide one principal and three alternative\nnominations for consideration for admission. Final admission decisions\nshall remain with the college and within administrative procedures and\ncriteria.\n 4. The state university of New York shall provide annually by the\nfirst day of July and upon request of the chairperson of the senate\nhigher education committee or the chairperson of the assembly higher\neducation committee a report detailing the total vacancies filled, the\ntotal vacancies expected for the upcoming academic year, what vacancies\neach elected official is expected to have pursuant to the provisions of\nsubdivision three of this section and a summary of the previous year's\ntotal student enrollment and participation in the program.\n 5. The scholarships authorized by this section shall be made available\nso long as funds are made available for such purposes.\n 6. Any individual receiving a scholarship pursuant to this section\nshall apply for all other available state, federal, or other educational\ngrant aid at the time of enrollment. Any grant aid or financial\nassistance received shall be utilized to offset the cost of tuition and\nthe "Summer Sea Term" to the maximum extent possible, except that\nnothing shall require that aid or assistance received which may be used\ntowards costs other than that of tuition shall be applied toward the\ncost of tuition.\n 7. The state university of New York is hereby authorized to promulgate\nany rules and regulations necessary for the implementation of the\nprovisions of this section.\n