§ 610 — Liberty scholarships

§ 610. Liberty scholarships. 1. Establishment of liberty scholarships.\nThe president of the higher education services corporation shall award\nliberty scholarships for payment annually beginning with the nineteen\nhundred ninety-one--nineteen hundred ninety-two academic year, and in\neach academic year thereafter, to students eligible pursuant to\nsubdivision two of this section. In administering this program, the\npresident is hereby authorized to exercise all powers and duties\nauthorized under article fourteen of this chapter.\n 2. Eligibility for scholarship. Liberty scholarships shall be awarded\nto persons:\n a. who have applied for such scholarship;\n b. who have graduated from a secondary school located within New York\nstate or have received a high school equivalency diploma from New York\nstate;\n c. who have not attained the age of twenty-two as of June thirtieth\nprior to the academic year for which the initial award is received and\nwho are undergraduate students receiving aid under this chapter for the\nfirst time during academic year nineteen hundred ninety-one--nineteen\nhundred ninety-two or thereafter;\n d. who have enrolled in an approved program in a degree-granting\ninstitution located in New York state within twenty-four months of the\ndate that the recipient graduated from secondary school or received a\nhigh school equivalency diploma, provided that those students who are\ntemporarily unable to avail themselves of the award due to illness,\nmilitary service or other causes in accordance with rules of the board\nof regents prior to receipt of the first payment of an award may be\ngranted a leave of absence pursuant to regulations of the trustees of\nthe higher education services corporation;\n e. who satisfy the requirements of section six hundred sixty-one of\nthis chapter;\n f. who retain good academic standing as defined by the commissioner;\nand\n g. who qualify for a scholarship pursuant to subdivision six of this\nsection.\n 3. Application. Application for payment of a liberty scholarship shall\nbe made in conjunction with an application for tuition assistance in\naccordance with rules of the board.\n 4. Application for other student financial assistance. a. A student\nenrolled in a program of full-time study shall not be entitled to\nreceive a scholarship unless the recipient (1) receives a tuition\nassistance award or supplemental tuition assistance award pursuant to\nsection six hundred sixty-seven or six hundred sixty-seven-a of this\nchapter and (2) receives a Pell grant award pursuant to section one\nthousand seventy-a of title twenty of the United States code.\n b. A recipient enrolled in a program of part-time study shall not be\nentitled to receive a scholarship unless the recipient receives a Pell\ngrant award pursuant to section one thousand seventy-a of title twenty\nof the United States code.\n 5. Duration. a. Subject to the requirements of subdivision two of this\nsection, a recipient shall be entitled to an annual scholarship for not\nmore than (1) four academic years of full-time undergraduate study or\nthe equivalent thereof of part-time study, or (2) five academic years,\nor the equivalent thereof of part-time study, if the program of study\nnormally requires five years, as defined by the commissioner pursuant to\narticle thirteen of this chapter.\n b. For purposes of this subdivision and subdivision fourteen of\nsection six hundred five of this chapter, the term "part-time study"\nmeans enrollment for at least six but less than twelve semester hours,\nor the equivalent, per semester or at least four but less than eight\nsemester hours per quarter in an approved undergraduate program.\n c. Any semester, quarter or term of attendance during which a student\nreceives an award for part-time study pursuant to this section shall be\ncounted as one-half of a semester, quarter or term, as the case may be,\ntoward the maximum term of eligibility for tuition assistance awards\npursuant to sections six hundred sixty-six and six hundred sixty-seven\nof this chapter.\n 6. Amount. a. The president shall grant annual scholarships in the\nfollowing amounts:\n (1) If the recipient attends an institution of the city university of\nNew York or an institution of the state university of New York other\nthan the statutory colleges at Cornell, the college of environmental\nscience and forestry at Syracuse and the college of ceramics at Alfred,\nthe annual scholarship award shall be an amount equal to the non-tuition\ncost of attendance at such institution or college reduced by (i) the\namount of a Pell grant and (ii) the amount of such other state and\nfederal scholarships and grants, other than tuition assistance or\nsupplemental tuition assistance received under this chapter, which do\nnot require repayment, awarded to the recipient for the cost of\nattendance at the institution being attended, as reported to the\npresident; provided, however, that such scholarship shall be reduced one\ndollar for every three dollars of income in excess of eighteen thousand\ndollars of income; or\n (2) If the recipient attends any other degree-granting institution\nwithin New York state and enrolls in a program approved by the\ncommissioner, the annual scholarship award shall be based upon an amount\nequal to the average non-tuition cost of attendance, as determined by\nthe commissioner in consultation with the president and as approved by\nthe director of the budget, for a student at the state university of New\nYork or actual non-tuition cost of attendance at such institution,\nwhichever is less, reduced by (i) the amount of a Pell grant the\nrecipient would have been entitled to had the recipient attended the\nstate university of New York and (ii) the amount of such other state and\nfederal scholarships and grants, other than tuition assistance or\nsupplemental tuition assistance received under this chapter, which do\nnot require repayment, awarded to the recipient for the cost of\nattendance at the institution being attended, as reported to the\npresident; provided, however, that such scholarships shall be reduced\none dollar for every three dollars of income in excess of eighteen\nthousand dollars of income.\n (3) Scholarships and grants that reduce the cost of attendance for\npurposes of determining the amount of a scholarship award shall not\ninclude supplemental financial assistance provided on a last dollar\nbasis pursuant to the provisions of section sixty-four hundred fifty-one\nor sixty-four hundred fifty-two of this chapter.\n (4) "Non-tuition cost of attendance", as used in this paragraph, shall\nmean: (i) the actual amount charged by the institution for room and\nboard and (ii) an allowance for transportation, books and supplies as\ndetermined by the commissioner in consultation with the president and as\napproved by the director of the budget, provided that such determination\nshall be made no later than December first of each year for use in the\nsucceeding academic year. In the event a student does not incur room or\nboard charges at the institution, "non-tuition cost of attendance" shall\nmean an allowance for room and board as determined by the commissioner\nin consultation with the president and approved by the director of the\nbudget. In determining allowances pursuant to this subparagraph, the\ncommissioner may take into consideration the allowances provided for in\nthe Pell grant program.\n b. For the purposes of determining annual scholarships, the term\n"income" shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of\nsection six hundred sixty-three of this chapter, except that in making\nsuch determination, adjusted gross income, as defined in regulations of\nthe trustees of the corporation, shall be used instead of New York state\nnet taxable income.\n c. In no event shall the combination of all student financial aid\nreceived by a student exceed the recipient's total cost of attendance at\nthe institution being attended.\n 7. Ineligibility for a tuition assistance, supplemental tuition\nassistance or Pell grant award in a particular academic year shall not\nprevent a recipient from receiving a liberty scholarship award in any\nsubsequent year in which such recipient shall become eligible for a\ntuition assistance, supplemental tuition assistance or Pell grant award,\nprovided, however, the seven-year period referred to in subdivision\nseven of section six hundred sixty-five of this chapter, or an\neight-year period for part-time study, shall not have elapsed.\n 8. Relationship to educational opportunity programs. Liberty\nscholarship recipients who qualify for admission to the educational\nopportunity programs established in section sixty-four hundred fifty-one\nor sixty-four hundred fifty-two of this chapter shall in no way be\nprecluded from participation in such programs as a result of their\nstatus as liberty scholarship recipients. Recipients who qualify and are\nselected for participation in the opportunity programs shall be eligible\nto receive the same tutoring and counseling services provided to other\neducational opportunity program students, and shall be eligible to\nreceive supplemental financial assistance through the educational\nopportunity programs for any approved costs not otherwise funded under\nsuch scholarship.\n 9. Notification. The superintendent of schools or other chief school\nofficer of each public school district and the chief school officer of\nnonpublic secondary schools shall take steps to inform students and\nparents about the liberty scholarship program and various types of\nstudent financial aid that are available for their college educations.\nThe corporation, in cooperation with the commissioner, shall assist such\nefforts by making available to school districts, nonpublic secondary\nschools and students information relating to such programs and aid. In\naddition, the commissioner, in cooperation with the president and school\nofficials shall also provide such other information as is appropriate to\nencourage students to complete high school and to assist students in\npreparing to attend college.\n 10. Regulations. All regulations of the commissioner or regulations of\nthe trustees of the corporation to implement the provisions of this\narticle shall be subject to the approval of the director of the budget.\n