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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.625 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:Senate Introduced Date:20010424 Primary Sponsor:Elliott All Sponsors:Elliott Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\skb\18427som01.doc Residing Body:Senate Current Committee:Education Committee 04 SED Subject:Stafford Loan Repayment Program, development of for teachers in critical need areas; School Districts, Colleges, Tuition History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ Senate 20010424 Introduced, read first time, 04 SED referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND SECTION 59-26-20, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DUTIES OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION, SO AS TO ADD THE DUTY OF DEVELOPING A STAFFORD LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM FOR CERTIFIED TEACHERS EMPLOYED IN THE STATE IN AREAS OF CRITICAL NEED, TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEFINITION OF CRITICAL NEED AREA INCLUDES ACADEMIC AND GEOGRAPHIC CRITICAL NEED AREAS AS DEFINED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, TO PROVIDE THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF AND A SCHEDULE FOR THE LOAN REPAYMENT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR REPORTS ON A SCHEDULED BASIS TO BE MADE BY THE EDUCATION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF ITS REVIEW OF THE PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Section 59-26-20 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 393 of 2000, is further amended by adding an appropriately lettered subsection to read:
"( ) the Commission on Higher Education, in consultation with the State Department of Education and the staff of the South Carolina Student Loan Corporation, shall develop a Stafford loan repayment program whereby talented and qualified individuals may have a part of their Stafford loans repaid if they are a certified teacher employed in the State in areas of critical need. Areas of critical need shall include both rural areas and areas of teacher certification and must be defined annually for that purpose by the State Board of Education. The amount of loan repayment to the Stafford loan may not exceed a total of twenty thousand dollars for teachers using a Stafford loan to obtain a Baccalaureate degree or a total of thirty-five thousand dollars for teachers using a Stafford loan to obtain a Masters degree or higher. The loan repayment amount will be at the rate of twenty percent of the total unpaid Stafford loan debt not to exceed the amount stated in this subsection for each complete year of teaching service in either an academic critical area or in a geographic need area. The loan repayment amount will be at the rate of thirty-three and one-third percent of the total unpaid Stafford loan debt not to exceed the amount stated in this subsection for each complete year of teaching service in both an academic critical need area and a geographic need area. The recipient shall execute the necessary legal documents to request repayment on an annual basis. A recipient of the loan program in subsection (j) is eligible for the Stafford loan repayment program; however, the combined loan cancellation provided by the loan program in subsection (j) and the repayment received through the Stafford loan repayment program may not exceed the amounts specified in this subsection. The repayment program must be administered by the South Carolina Student Loan Corporation. The Education Oversight Committee shall review the repayment program after its second year of operation and every third year thereafter and report to the General Assembly."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon the signature of the Governor and is effective for Stafford loans first disbursed on or after January 1, 1995.
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