§1676. Recipients and awards of scholarships

           A. The scholarship recipient shall be free to attend any approved institution of higher education in this state. The institution is not required to accept the scholarship recipient for enrollment, but is free to exact compliance with its own admission requirements, standards, and policies.

           B. Scholarship grants shall be made to undergraduate students only.

           C. Each scholarship is renewable until the course of study is completed, but not to exceed an additional three academic years beyond the first year of the award. These may not necessarily be consecutive years and the scholarship will be terminated if the student receives his degree in a shorter period of time. Qualifications for renewal will include maintaining satisfactory academic standing, making normal progress toward completion of the course of study, and continued eligibility, as determined by the department.

           D. Scholarship awards shall be made without regard to the applicant's race, disability, as defined in R.S. 51:2232, creed, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry; and in making scholarship awards, the department shall provide a fair and equitable geographical distribution of the awards and shall treat all approved institutions of higher education in a fair and equitable manner.

           E. Scholarship awards shall be limited to the payment of tuition and academic fees and shall not exceed for an academic year the lesser of four hundred dollars or the actual amount of tuition and academic fees payable by the scholarship recipient, which shall not exceed the tuition and academic fees generally charged by the institution to all resident undergraduate students.

           F. Payment of scholarships shall be made directly to the institution.

           G. In the event that a scholarship recipient transfers from one approved institution of higher education to another, his scholarship shall be transferable only with the approval of the department.

           H. Should the recipient terminate his enrollment for any reason during the academic year, the unused portion of the scholarship shall be returned to the department by the institution according to the institution's own policy for issuing refunds.

           I. The financial assistance granted herein shall be in addition to any other financial assistance from whatever source.

           Added by Acts 1974, No. 695, §1, eff. July 1, 1975; Acts 1993, No. 820, §3.