Amend the bill , as and if amended, Part IB, Section 3, LOTTERY EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT, page 343, proviso 3.5 by striking lines 35 through 36 and page 344 by striking lines 1 through 31 and inserting / From the funds appropriated to the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education (SBTCE) for the South Carolina Workforce Promise Scholarship in the current fiscal year, a student who is attending a two-year public technical college, who is majoring in a critical workforce program, and who is receiving a Lottery Tuition Assistance Program (LTAP) Scholarship for the current fiscal year shall also receive a South Carolina Workforce Promise (SCWP) Scholarship. Subject to the funds appropriated, the SCWP scholarship is equal to the cost of tuition and mandatory fees after applying all other scholarships or grants, not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars.
If the student is a freshman, then the student must be enrolled in at least six credit hours of instruction each semester in the current fiscal year, including at least three credit hours of instruction in one of the critical workforce areas defined by the SBTCE. To receive the additional SCWP scholarship, the student must receive the underlying LTAP scholarship and must be making acceptable progress toward receiving a degree pursuant to this section. Dual enrollment courses taken in high school in these critical workforce area programs count toward the fulfillment of the minimum requirement.
The South Carolina Coordinating Council for Workforce Development shall recommend critical workforce area programs to the SBTCE, and the SBTCE shall adopt guidelines to define what constitutes a critical workforce area program based upon those recommendations. Nothing herein prevents a student from changing majors within the acceptable disciplines. Additionally, in the current fiscal year, the SBTCE shall communicate with high school guidance counselors regarding the list of qualifying majors. Critical workforce program additions or deletions must be ratified by the South Carolina Coordinating Council for Workforce Development.
In order for a student to be eligible after attempting twenty-four academic credit hours, the student must have earned a grade point average of 2.0 or better on a 4.0 grading scale.
A dual-enrollment student in high school who is majoring in one of the critical workforce areas at a technical college qualifies for the SCWP scholarship.
Additionally, a three-hundred-dollar book allowance for the current fiscal year is applied to a SCWP recipient's account for expenses toward the costs of attendance, including the cost of textbooks.
If a critical workforce area program is placed on suspension during the SBTCE's program evaluation process, then that program no longer qualifies for SCWP funds at that specific college. Students must be advised on how to complete their program by transferring to another technical college or serving as a transient student at another technical college to complete specified courses./
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend sections, totals and title to conform.