(a)This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Dependent Children Scholarship Act." (b) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1)"Corporation" means the Tennessee student assistance corporation;
(2)"Dependent child" means a natural child, stepchild or adopted child who is either living with or receiving regular support contributions from a law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical service technician at the time of the employee's death or total and permanent disability. "Dependent child" also means a posthumous child;
(3)"Eligible postsecondary institution" or "institution" has the same meaning as defined in § 49-4-902 ;
(4)"Eligible program of study" means, beginning with the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year:
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(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Dependent Children Scholarship Act." (b) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Corporation" means the Tennessee student assistance corporation; (2) "Dependent child" means a natural child, stepchild or adopted child who is either living with or receiving regular support contributions from a law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical service technician at the time of the employee's death or total and permanent disability. "Dependent child" also means a posthumous child; (3) "Eligible postsecondary institution" or "institution" has the same meaning as defined in § 49-4-902 ; (4) "Eligible program of study" means, beginning with the fall semester of the 2022-2023 academic year: (A) A curriculum of courses leading to a certificate or diploma at a Tennessee college of applied technology; or (B) A federal Title IV-eligible curriculum of courses leading to a certificate, diploma, or an associate or baccalaureate degree at an eligible postsecondary institution; (5) "Emergency medical service technician" means an individual who possesses a valid certificate issued pursuant to title 68, chapter 140; (6) "Firefighter" is defined as in § 4-24-201 or a bona fide member of a volunteer fire department; (7) "Law enforcement officer" means any police officer of a Tennessee municipality, any commissioned member of the department of safety, the wildlife resources agency, or the Tennessee bureau of investigation, and any Tennessee county sheriff or deputy sheriff actually engaged in law enforcement, or any correctional officer employed by the department of correction or the department of children's services; (8) "Resident" means a person who was a resident of this state as classified pursuant to § 49-8-104 , at the time the law enforcement officer, firefighter, or emergency medical service technician died or became totally and permanently disabled; and (9) "Totally and permanently disabled" means unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable impairment that is certified by a licensed physician and is expected to continue for a long and indefinite period of time or to result in death. (c) A resident of this state who is a dependent child of a law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical service technician who has been killed or totally and permanently disabled while performing duties within the scope of such employment may receive a scholarship provided by this section, except to the extent the dependent child receives educational benefits or scholarship aid from other sources. The corporation shall require a dependent child to also apply to other government programs of student grant assistance for which, in the judgment of the corporation, the dependent child is eligible. (d) Every dependent child desiring a scholarship under this section shall make application to the corporation. The application shall be accompanied by evidence satisfactory to the corporation that the law enforcement officer, firefighter or emergency medical service technician was killed or totally and permanently disabled while performing duties within the scope of such employment. The application shall also be accompanied by the certification of the financial aid officer of the institution the dependent child plans to attend, stating that the dependent child has been accepted for admission and setting forth the costs of attending the institution and the amount of financial assistance to be provided from other sources. (e) To the extent funds are available, the corporation shall award a scholarship to an eligible applicant for full-time postsecondary undergraduate or vocational study in an eligible program of study at an eligible postsecondary institution. If funds are insufficient to provide scholarships to all eligible applicants, then awards must be based on the financial need of the student as determined by guidelines established by the corporation. Except as provided by other scholarship or educational aid programs, the scholarship award must include tuition and other required fees and allowances for books, supplies, and room and board. (f) The duration of a scholarship award shall be four (4) academic years or the period required for the completion of the appropriate course of study, whichever is less; provided, that a scholarship recipient enrolled in an undergraduate degree program that requires more than four (4) academic years for completion may apply to the corporation during the fourth year for an extension of the scholarship award to the fifth year, in which event duration of the award shall not exceed five (5) years. Upon certification by the eligible postsecondary institution that the recipient has successfully completed the fourth year of study of an approved five-year program, the corporation shall extend the scholarship award to the fifth year. (g) Payment of scholarships shall be made directly to the recipient in approximately equal installments at the beginning of each academic term upon receipt by the corporation of evidence that the recipient is officially enrolled in an eligible postsecondary institution. (h) Payment of scholarships shall immediately terminate if at any time the recipient ceases to continue as a full-time student in good standing and ceases making satisfactory progress in the institution in which the recipient is enrolled. With the approval of the corporation, the recipient may transfer to another eligible postsecondary institution if the course of study so requires or if it appears to the corporation that it is in the best interest of the recipient to make a transfer. (i) The corporation is authorized and directed to make such rules and regulations governing the making of scholarships as it deems necessary to carry out and to make effective the purposes of this section.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1107, Secs.s6, s7, s8 eff. 7/1/2022. Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1107, s 5, eff. 7/1/2022. Amended by 2020 Tenn. Acts, ch. 794, Secs.s17, s62 eff. 8/1/2020. Acts 1980, ch. 648, §§ 1-6; 1983, ch. 202, §§ 1-4; T.C.A., §§49-50-201-- 49-50-206; Acts 1988, ch. 797, § 1; 1989, ch. 278, § 72; 1995, ch. 305, § 106; 1996, ch. 1079, § 140.