Jumpstart Scholarship - Codified Laws

13-55-47 Jump start scholarship program established
There is hereby established the jump start scholarship program to be administered by the Board of Regents. The purpose of the program is to allow a student who graduates from a public high school in three years or less to receive a scholarship funded with a portion of the money saved by the state in state aid to education funding pursuant to chapter 13-13 as a result of the student's early graduation if the student enrolls at any college, university, or technical school accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that provides instruction from a campus located in South Dakota.

13-55-48. Eligibility requirements for jump start scholarship program.
To be eligible for the jump start scholarship program, a student shall:

• Be a resident of South Dakota;

• Complete the requirements of the recommended high school program as established by the Board of Education Standards pursuant to § 13-1-12.1, and be awarded a high school diploma by a public high school in three years or less;

• Have attended a public high school in South Dakota on a full-time basis for at least two semesters prior to graduating; and

• Within one year of graduating from high school, excluding any time served on active duty in the armed forces of the United States, enroll in a college, university, or technical school accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools that provides instruction from a campus located in South Dakota.

No student who enrolls in a high school for all or any part of a fourth year is eligible for the jump start scholarship program.

13-55-49. Amount of scholarship--Installment payments.
The amount of the scholarship shall be one thousand five hundred dollars for the first year of attendance.
One half of the award shall be paid to an approved institution on behalf of any eligible student enrolled at the beginning of the fall semester, and the other half shall be paid in the same manner at the beginning of the spring semester. A student shall be enrolled full-time during the spring semester in order to receive the second installment.

13-55-50. Application for admission to approved institution--Determination of scholarship eligibility--Distribution of funds.
Any eligible student seeking to obtain a jump start scholarship shall, by September first of the year following the student's graduation from high school, apply for admission to an approved postsecondary education institution. The institution shall determine the student's initial eligibility, and once the student is admitted into the jump start scholarship program, the executive director of the Board of Regents shall make scholarship payments to the institution on behalf of the student. The approved institutions shall submit to the Board of Regents the names of all eligible students by October first for the first semester and by February twenty-fifth for the second semester, and once the eligibility of each student is verified, the executive director of the Board of Regents shall distribute the funds necessary to award the scholarship to each eligible student to the approved institutions for the first semester on October fifteenth or the first working day thereafter, and for the second semester on March fifteenth or the first working day thereafter.